Dynamically configuring a proxy server using containerization for concurrent and/or overlapping backup, restore, and/or test operations

ABSTRACT

An illustrative data storage management system relies on a specially configured proxy server to operate software containers on a proxy server, maintain resources needed by the software containers, and interwork with other system components. Illustratively, a catalog service on the proxy server maintains a software cache according to maintenance rules and also maintains an associated cache catalog. The software containers are generally managed and operated by an illustrative container manager also hosted by the proxy server. The illustrative software cache comprises contents needed by the software containers, such as pre-configured container templates, DBMS software components, lightervisors representing target operating systems, and storage management software for performing test and storage operations. The maintenance rules govern when cache contents should be purged and moved into offline archive copies.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE TO ANY PRIORITY APPLICATIONS

Any and all applications, if any, for which a foreign or domesticpriority claim is identified in the Application Data Sheet of thepresent application are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentireties under 37 CFR 1.57.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentand/or the patent disclosure as it appears in the United States Patentand Trademark Office patent file and/or records, but otherwise reservesall copyrights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND

Businesses recognize the commercial value of their data and seekreliable, cost-effective ways to protect the information stored on theircomputer networks while minimizing impact on productivity. A companymight back up critical computing systems such as databases, fileservers, web servers, virtual machines, and so on as part of a daily,weekly, or monthly maintenance schedule. The company may similarlyprotect computing systems used by its employees, such as those used byan accounting department, marketing department, engineering department,and so forth. Given the rapidly expanding volume of data undermanagement, companies also continue to seek innovative techniques formanaging data growth, for example by migrating data to lower-coststorage over time, reducing redundant data, pruning lower priority data,etc. Enterprises also increasingly view their stored data as a valuableasset and look for solutions that leverage their data. For instance,data analysis capabilities, information management, improved datapresentation and access features, and the like, are in increasingdemand.

One well known barrier to efficient and effective backups, especially inregard to large and very active transactional databases, can be theduration of time taken up by backup operations, even incrementalbackups. In some scenarios, the duration of the backup operation islonger than the desired time interval to the next backup, which resultsin a scenario where backup operations overlap as to any given databasemanagement system (DBMS). In regard to a set of diverse databasemanagement systems, multiple backup operations may occur concurrently ormay overlap over time as well. Due to limitations in namespaceallocations and namespace usage on ordinary proxy servers that processthe backups in a traditional storage management system, multiple proxyservers are needed to handle the ongoing and overlapping backupoperations of diverse databases, or even of one active transactionaldatabase. The result is substantially increased network complexity andhigher costs for equipment, database licensing fees, maintenance, andadministration. A more streamlined approach is desirable.

SUMMARY

Traditional storage management systems can experience significantshortcomings when backup operations take longer than the intervalbetween point-in-time snapshots of database data, because in suchsituations backup operations will overlap as one backup starts beforeits predecessor ends. Due to namespace limitations on any given server,a DBMS software accessing a certain data source, e.g., a database named“employeeDB”, cannot run concurrently with another instance of itselfalso configured to use the “employeeDB” database, because the identicaldatabase names clash. Thus, overlapping backups of the same sourcedatabase require separate servers or else the database data sourceswould have to be renamed to avoid namespace clashes. Likewise, if onewanted to test a certain database data source while a backup or restore(or other storage operation) of the “employeeDB” database was underway,again names would have to be changed or separate servers used.Workarounds such as temporarily renaming a database for backup or testpurposes are possible, but they are risky and time-consuming. Likewise,in some cases, a certain version of a DBMS software (e.g., Oracleversion 1) may not be able to run concurrently with a different version(e.g., Oracle version 2) on the same server, because of similar clashingnamespace limitations at the software level, e.g., names of executable,libraries, configuration files, locking mechanisms, logs, etc., whichare designed and provided by the manufacturer. The result again is thatmultiple servers are needed in such traditional systems to enableconcurrent and overlapping operations to occur within the namespacelimits of each server. This multi-server solution is expensive and addssubstantial complexity, risk, and maintenance costs.

By using the illustrative enhancements described herein in conjunctionwith software containerization techniques in a data storage managementsystem, a single proxy server can be dynamically configured as needed toperform any number of concurrent and/or overlapping storage and/ortesting operations relative to one or more DBMSs in a data network.Illustratively, enhanced storage management components, e.g., storagemanager, data agents, media agents, and a specially configured proxyserver, interoperate to enable concurrent and/or overlapping operationsthat are not encumbered by namespace restrictions. By using softwarecontainers that operate independently of each other on the same proxyserver, storage operations and/or testing can be executed in eachrespective software container without regard to what other softwarecontainers are doing. Moreover, all the container-based operations onthe proxy server occur without involving any of the DBMS productionservers that use and generate “live” data, such as database data. Thus,the illustrative proxy server and the techniques associated with itinsulate the DBMS production environment from the testing and storageoperations hosted by the proxy server.

For example, according to an illustrative embodiment, the same DBMSsoftware (e.g., Oracle version 1.1) can be instantiated in severalrespective concurrent software containers on the proxy server to performoperations such as a backup of a first database data source in a firstsoftware container, a backup of a later point-in-time copy of the samedatabase data source in a second software container, and a test run of apreviously backed up copy of the database in a third software container.In another example, the test run can use a newer version of the DBMSsoftware (e.g., Oracle version 1.2) to check whether older copies ofdatabase data are compatible with the newer DBMS software, all the whilecontinuing to perform storage operations (e.g., backup, archive,restore, etc.) in other software containers using the newer DBMSsoftware. In other examples, containerized test runs can check whether aDBMS software version and/or backup copy of a database work properlywith a certain target operating system that differs from the oneoperating when the backup copy was originally made. Likewise,containerized test runs can be used for comparison purposes, for exampleto compare how long a storage operation takes with a newer version of astorage management component (e.g., data agent, media agent, storagemanager) versus an older version. Other similar performance concurrencyand analysis exercises can be envisioned in any combination andpermutation by using software containers according to the illustrativeembodiment.

To support these scenarios, an illustrative data storage managementsystem relies on a specially configured proxy server, illustrativelyusing proxy control logic for a variety of functions, including foroperating the software containers on the proxy server, for maintainingcertain resources needed by the software containers, and forinterworking with other components of the data storage managementsystem, such as the storage manager, primary and secondary data storagedevices, index server(s), report server(s), and client computingdevices. Illustratively, a catalog service that runs on the proxy servercomprises maintenance rules, maintains a software cache according to therules, and also maintains an associated cache catalog on the proxyserver. The software containers are generally managed and operated by anillustrative container manager also hosted by the proxy server.

The illustrative software cache comprises contents that are resourcesneeded by the software containers, such as pre-configured containertemplates, DBMS software components (e.g., executable files, libraryfiles, configuration files, etc.), so-called lightervisors representingtarget operating systems, and storage management software executables(e.g., data agents, media agents) for performing test and storageoperations. The maintenance rules in the catalog service govern whencache contents should be purged, such as by moving them offline intoarchive copies in secondary storage from where they could be retrievedwhen needed, e.g., archiving an older version of DBMS software orstorage management software that is only rarely used. The illustrativecache catalog comprises an index of the contents of the software cache,including a record of whether cache contents are fully present in thesoftware cache or have been archived and are represented only by acorresponding stub, and also tracks when each content element was lastused in a software container. The cache catalogue is kept current by theillustrative catalog service entering updates therein whenever asoftware cache content element is used and/or added and/or archived. Theillustrative catalog service also reports cache catalog changes to anindex server that illustratively operates in the data storage managementsystem and which comprises diverse indexed information collected fromsources throughout the data storage management system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary informationmanagement system.

FIG. 1B is a detailed view of a primary storage device, a secondarystorage device, and some examples of primary data and secondary copydata.

FIG. 1C is a block diagram of an exemplary information management systemincluding a storage manager, one or more data agents, and one or moremedia agents.

FIG. 1D is a block diagram illustrating a scalable informationmanagement system.

FIG. 1E illustrates certain secondary copy operations according to anexemplary storage policy.

FIGS. 1F-1H are block diagrams illustrating suitable data structuresthat may be employed by the information management system.

FIG. 2A illustrates a system and technique for synchronizing primarydata to a destination such as a failover site using secondary copy data.

FIG. 2B illustrates an information management system architectureincorporating use of a network file system (NFS) protocol forcommunicating between the primary and secondary storage subsystems.

FIG. 2C is a block diagram of an example of a highly scalable manageddata pool architecture.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram depicting an illustrative system 300 for usingsoftware containerization to dynamically configure a proxy server forconcurrent and/or overlapping backup, restore, and/or test operationsfor database management systems (DBMS), according to an illustrativeembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram depicting further detail of certain componentsof system 300.

FIG. 5A is a block diagram depicting further detail of certaincomponents of system 300, including proxy control logic 324.

FIG. 5B is a block diagram depicting further detail of certaincomponents of system 300, including an illustrative software container323, as well as certain data movement operations using a snapshot cloneas a data source for generating and storing a secondary copy.

FIG. 6 depicts some salient operations of a method 600 according to anillustrative embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 depicts some salient operations of block 660 in method 600.

FIG. 8 depicts some salient operations of block 670 in method 600.

FIG. 9 depicts some salient operations of block 706 in method 600.

FIG. 10 depicts some salient operations of block 708 in method 600.

FIG. 11 depicts some salient operations of block 804 in method 600.

FIG. 12 depicts some salient operations of block 810 in method 600.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Detailed descriptions and examples of systems and methods according toone or more illustrative embodiments of the present invention may befound in the section entitled DYNAMICALLY CONFIGURING A PROXY SERVERUSING SOFTWARE-CONTAINERIZATION FOR CONCURRENT AND/OR OVERLAPPINGBACKUP, RESTORE, AND/OR TEST OPERATIONS, as well as in the sectionentitled Example Embodiments, and also in FIGS. 3-12 herein.Furthermore, components and functionality for dynamically configuring aproxy server using containerization for concurrent and/or overlappingbackup, restore, and/or test operations may be configured and/orincorporated into information management systems such as those describedherein in FIGS. 1A-1H and 2A-2C.

Various embodiments described herein are intimately tied to, enabled by,and would not exist except for, computer technology. For example,dynamically configuring a proxy server using containerization forconcurrent and/or overlapping backup, restore, and/or test operationsdescribed herein in reference to various embodiments, populating andmaintaining a software cache on a proxy server to be used by theillustrative software containerization service cannot reasonably beperformed by humans alone, without the computer technology upon whichthey are implemented.

Information Management System Overview

With the increasing importance of protecting and leveraging data,organizations simply cannot risk losing critical data. Moreover, runawaydata growth and other modern realities make protecting and managing dataincreasingly difficult. There is therefore a need for efficient,powerful, and user-friendly solutions for protecting and managing dataand for smart and efficient management of data storage. Depending on thesize of the organization, there may be many data production sourceswhich are under the purview of tens, hundreds, or even thousands ofindividuals. In the past, individuals were sometimes responsible formanaging and protecting their own data, and a patchwork of hardware andsoftware point solutions may have been used in any given organization.These solutions were often provided by different vendors and had limitedor no interoperability. Certain embodiments described herein addressthese and other shortcomings of prior approaches by implementingscalable, unified, organization-wide information management, includingdata storage management.

FIG. 1A shows one such information management system 100 (or “system100”), which generally includes combinations of hardware and softwareconfigured to protect and manage data and metadata that are generatedand used by computing devices in system 100. System 100 may be referredto in some embodiments as a “storage management system” or a “datastorage management system.” System 100 performs information managementoperations, some of which may be referred to as “storage operations” or“data storage operations,” to protect and manage the data residing inand/or managed by system 100. The organization that employs system 100may be a corporation or other business entity, non-profit organization,educational institution, household, governmental agency, or the like.

Generally, the systems and associated components described herein may becompatible with and/or provide some or all of the functionality of thesystems and corresponding components described in one or more of thefollowing U.S. patents/publications and patent applications assigned toCommvault Systems, Inc., each of which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety herein:

-   -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,035,880, entitled “Modular Backup and Retrieval        System Used in Conjunction With a Storage Area Network”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,107,298, entitled “System And Method For        Archiving Objects In An Information Store”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,246,207, entitled “System and Method for        Dynamically Performing Storage Operations in a Computer        Network”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,315,923, entitled “System And Method For        Combining Data Streams In Pipelined Storage Operations In A        Storage Network”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453, entitled “Hierarchical Systems and        Methods for Providing a Unified View of Storage Information”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,395,282, entitled “Hierarchical Backup and        Retrieval System”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,529,782, entitled “System and Methods for        Performing a Snapshot and for Restoring Data”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,262, entitled “System and Methods for        Monitoring Application Data in a Data Replication System”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,734,669, entitled “Managing Copies Of Data”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,747,579, entitled “Metabase for Facilitating        Data Classification”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,156,086, entitled “Systems And Methods For        Stored Data Verification”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,170,995, entitled “Method and System for Offline        Indexing of Content and Classifying Stored Data”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,230,195, entitled “System And Method For        Performing Auxiliary Storage Operations”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,285,681, entitled “Data Object Store and Server        for a Cloud Storage Environment, Including Data Deduplication        and Data Management Across Multiple Cloud Storage Sites”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,307,177, entitled “Systems And Methods For        Management Of Virtualization Data”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,364,652, entitled “Content-Aligned, Block-Based        Deduplication”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,578,120, entitled “Block-Level Single        Instancing”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,954,446, entitled “Client-Side Repository in a        Networked Deduplicated Storage System”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 9,020,900, entitled “Distributed Deduplicated        Storage System”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 9,098,495, entitled “Application-Aware and Remote        Single Instance Data Management”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 9,239,687, entitled “Systems and Methods for        Retaining and Using Data Block Signatures in Data Protection        Operations”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2006/0224846, entitled “System and Method to        Support Single Instance Storage Operations”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2014/0201170, entitled “High Availability        Distributed Deduplicated Storage System”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2016/0041880 A1, entitled “Efficient        Application Recovery In An Information Management System Based        On Pseudo-Storage-Device Driver”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2016/0154709 A1, entitled “Point-In-Time        Backups Of A Production Application Made Accessible Over Fibre        Channel And/Or iSCSI As Data Sources To A Remote Application By        Representing The Backups As Pseudo-Disks Operating Apart From        The Production Application And Its Host”;    -   U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/721,971, entitled        “Replication Using Deduplicated Secondary Copy Data” (applicant        docket no. 100.422.US1.145; attorney docket no. COMMV.252A);    -   U.S. Patent Application No. 62/265,339 entitled “Live        Synchronization and Management of Virtual Machines across        Computing and Virtualization Platforms and Using Live        Synchronization to Support Disaster Recovery” (applicant docket        no. 100.487.USP1.160; attorney docket no. COMMV.277PR);    -   U.S. Patent Application No. 62/273,286 entitled “Redundant and        Robust Distributed Deduplication Data Storage System” (applicant        docket no. 100.489.USP1.135; attorney docket no. COMMV.279PR);    -   U.S. Patent Application No. 62/294,920, entitled “Data        Protection Operations Based on Network Path Information”        (applicant docket no. 100.497.USP1.105; attorney docket no.        COMMV.283PR);    -   U.S. Patent Application No. 62/297,057, entitled “Data        Restoration Operations Based on Network Path Information”        (applicant docket no. 100.498.USP1.105; attorney docket no.        COMMV.284PR); and    -   U.S. Patent Application No. 62/387,384, entitled        “Application-Level Live Synchronization Across Computing        Platforms Including Synchronizing Co-Resident Applications To        Disparate Standby Destinations And Selectively Synchronizing        Some Applications And Not Others” (applicant docket no.        100.500.USP1.105; attorney docket no. COMMV.286PR).

System 100 includes computing devices and computing technologies. Forinstance, system 100 can include one or more client computing devices102 and secondary storage computing devices 106, as well as storagemanager 140 or a host computing device for it. Computing devices caninclude, without limitation, one or more: workstations, personalcomputers, desktop computers, or other types of generally fixedcomputing systems such as mainframe computers, servers, andminicomputers. Other computing devices can include mobile or portablecomputing devices, such as one or more laptops, tablet computers,personal data assistants, mobile phones (such as smartphones), and othermobile or portable computing devices such as embedded computers, set topboxes, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable computers, etc. Servers caninclude mail servers, file servers, database servers, virtual machineservers, and web servers. Any given computing device comprises one ormore processors (e.g., CPU and/or single-core or multi-core processors),as well as corresponding non-transitory computer memory (e.g.,random-access memory (RAM)) for storing computer programs which are tobe executed by the one or more processors. Other computer memory formass storage of data may be packaged/configured with the computingdevice (e.g., an internal hard disk) and/or may be external andaccessible by the computing device (e.g., network-attached storage, astorage array, etc.). In some cases, a computing device includes cloudcomputing resources, which may be implemented as virtual machines. Forinstance, one or more virtual machines may be provided to theorganization by a third-party cloud service vendor.

In some embodiments, computing devices can include one or more virtualmachine(s) running on a physical host computing device (or “hostmachine”) operated by the organization. As one example, the organizationmay use one virtual machine as a database server and another virtualmachine as a mail server, both virtual machines operating on the samehost machine. A Virtual machine (“VM”) is a software implementation of acomputer that does not physically exist and is instead instantiated inan operating system of a physical computer (or host machine) to enableapplications to execute within the VM's environment, i.e., a VM emulatesa physical computer. A VM includes an operating system and associatedvirtual resources, such as computer memory and processor(s). Ahypervisor operates between the VM and the hardware of the physical hostmachine and is generally responsible for creating and running the VMs.Hypervisors are also known in the art as virtual machine monitors or avirtual machine managers or “VMMs”, and may be implemented in software,firmware, and/or specialized hardware installed on the host machine.Examples of hypervisors include ESX Server, by VMware, Inc. of PaloAlto, Calif.; Microsoft Virtual Server and Microsoft Windows ServerHyper-V, both by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.; Sun xVM byOracle America Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif.; and Xen by Citrix Systems,Santa Clara, Calif. The hypervisor provides resources to each virtualoperating system such as a virtual processor, virtual memory, a virtualnetwork device, and a virtual disk. Each virtual machine has one or moreassociated virtual disks. The hypervisor typically stores the data ofvirtual disks in files on the file system of the physical host machine,called virtual machine disk files (“VMDK” in VMware lingo) or virtualhard disk image files (in Microsoft lingo). For example, VMware's ESXServer provides the Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) for the storageof virtual machine disk files. A virtual machine reads data from andwrites data to its virtual disk much the way that a physical machinereads data from and writes data to a physical disk. Examples oftechniques for implementing information management in a cloud computingenvironment are described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,285,681. Examples oftechniques for implementing information management in a virtualizedcomputing environment are described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,307,177.

Information management system 100 can also include electronic datastorage devices, generally used for mass storage of data, including,e.g., primary storage devices 104 and secondary storage devices 108.Storage devices can generally be of any suitable type including, withoutlimitation, disk drives, storage arrays (e.g., storage-area network(SAN) and/or network-attached storage (NAS) technology), semiconductormemory (e.g., solid state storage devices), network attached storage(NAS) devices, tape libraries, or other magnetic, non-tape storagedevices, optical media storage devices, DNA/RNA-based memory technology,combinations of the same, etc. In some embodiments, storage devices formpart of a distributed file system. In some cases, storage devices areprovided in a cloud storage environment (e.g., a private cloud or oneoperated by a third-party vendor), whether for primary data or secondarycopies or both.

Depending on context, the term “information management system” can referto generally all of the illustrated hardware and software components inFIG. 1C, or the term may refer to only a subset of the illustratedcomponents. For instance, in some cases, system 100 generally refers toa combination of specialized components used to protect, move, manage,manipulate, analyze, and/or process data and metadata generated byclient computing devices 102. However, system 100 in some cases does notinclude the underlying components that generate and/or store primarydata 112, such as the client computing devices 102 themselves, and theprimary storage devices 104. Likewise secondary storage devices 108(e.g., a third-party provided cloud storage environment) may not be partof system 100. As an example, “information management system” or“storage management system” may sometimes refer to one or more of thefollowing components, which will be described in further detail below:storage manager, data agent, and media agent.

One or more client computing devices 102 may be part of system 100, eachclient computing device 102 having an operating system and at least oneapplication 110 and one or more accompanying data agents executingthereon; and associated with one or more primary storage devices 104storing primary data 112. Client computing device(s) 102 and primarystorage devices 104 may generally be referred to in some cases asprimary storage subsystem 117.

Client Computing Devices, Clients, and Subclients

Typically, a variety of sources in an organization produce data to beprotected and managed. As just one illustrative example, in a corporateenvironment such data sources can be employee workstations and companyservers such as a mail server, a web server, a database server, atransaction server, or the like. In system 100, data generation sourcesinclude one or more client computing devices 102. A computing devicethat has a data agent 142 installed and operating on it is generallyreferred to as a “client computing device” 102, and may include any typeof computing device, without limitation. A client computing device 102may be associated with one or more users and/or user accounts.

A “client” is a logical component of information management system 100,which may represent a logical grouping of one or more data agentsinstalled on a client computing device 102. Storage manager 140recognizes a client as a component of system 100, and in someembodiments, may automatically create a client component the first timea data agent 142 is installed on a client computing device 102. Becausedata generated by executable component(s) 110 is tracked by theassociated data agent 142 so that it may be properly protected in system100, a client may be said to generate data and to store the generateddata to primary storage, such as primary storage device 104. However,the terms “client” and “client computing device” as used herein do notimply that a client computing device 102 is necessarily configured inthe client/server sense relative to another computing device such as amail server, or that a client computing device 102 cannot be a server inits own right. As just a few examples, a client computing device 102 canbe and/or include mail servers, file servers, database servers, virtualmachine servers, and/or web servers.

Each client computing device 102 may have application(s) 110 executingthereon which generate and manipulate the data that is to be protectedfrom loss and managed in system 100. Applications 110 generallyfacilitate the operations of an organization, and can include, withoutlimitation, mail server applications (e.g., Microsoft Exchange Server),file system applications, mail client applications (e.g., MicrosoftExchange Client), database applications or database management systems(e.g., SQL, Oracle, SAP, Lotus Notes Database), word processingapplications (e.g., Microsoft Word), spreadsheet applications, financialapplications, presentation applications, graphics and/or videoapplications, browser applications, mobile applications, entertainmentapplications, and so on. Each application 110 may be accompanied by anapplication-specific data agent 142, though not all data agents 142 areapplication-specific or associated with only application. A file system,e.g., Microsoft Windows Explorer, may be considered an application 110and may be accompanied by its own data agent 142. Client computingdevices 102 can have at least one operating system (e.g., MicrosoftWindows, Mac OS X, iOS, IBM z/OS, Linux, other Unix-based operatingsystems, etc.) installed thereon, which may support or host one or morefile systems and other applications 110. In some embodiments, a virtualmachine that executes on a host client computing device 102 may beconsidered an application 110 and may be accompanied by a specific dataagent 142 (e.g., virtual server data agent).

Client computing devices 102 and other components in system 100 can beconnected to one another via one or more electronic communicationpathways 114. For example, a first communication pathway 114 maycommunicatively couple client computing device 102 and secondary storagecomputing device 106; a second communication pathway 114 maycommunicatively couple storage manager 140 and client computing device102; and a third communication pathway 114 may communicatively couplestorage manager 140 and secondary storage computing device 106, etc.(see, e.g., FIG. 1A and FIG. 1C). A communication pathway 114 caninclude one or more networks or other connection types including one ormore of the following, without limitation: the Internet, a wide areanetwork (WAN), a local area network (LAN), a Storage Area Network (SAN),a Fibre Channel (FC) connection, a Small Computer System Interface(SCSI) connection, a virtual private network (VPN), a token ring orTCP/IP based network, an intranet network, a point-to-point link, acellular network, a wireless data transmission system, a two-way cablesystem, an interactive kiosk network, a satellite network, a broadbandnetwork, a baseband network, a neural network, a mesh network, an ad hocnetwork, other appropriate computer or telecommunications networks,combinations of the same or the like. Communication pathways 114 in somecases may also include application programming interfaces (APIs)including, e.g., cloud service provider APIs, virtual machine managementAPIs, and hosted service provider APIs. The underlying infrastructure ofcommunication pathways 114 may be wired and/or wireless, analog and/ordigital, or any combination thereof; and the facilities used may beprivate, public, third-party provided, or any combination thereof,without limitation.

A “subclient” is a logical grouping of all or part of a client's primarydata 112. In general, a subclient may be defined according to how thesubclient data is to be protected as a unit in system 100. For example,a subclient may be associated with a certain storage policy. A givenclient may thus comprise several subclients, each subclient associatedwith a different storage policy. For example, some files may form afirst subclient that requires compression and deduplication and isassociated with a first storage policy. Other files of the client mayform a second subclient that requires a different retention schedule aswell as encryption, and may be associated with a different, secondstorage policy. As a result, though the primary data may be generated bythe same application 110 and may belong to one given client, portions ofthe data may be assigned to different subclients for distinct treatmentby system 100. More detail on subclients is given in regard to storagepolicies below.

Primary Data and Exemplary Primary Storage Devices

Primary data 112 is generally production data or “live” data generatedby the operating system and/or applications 110 executing on clientcomputing device 102. Primary data 112 is generally stored on primarystorage device(s) 104 and is organized via a file system operating onthe client computing device 102. Thus, client computing device(s) 102and corresponding applications 110 may create, access, modify, write,delete, and otherwise use primary data 112. Primary data 112 isgenerally in the native format of the source application 110. Primarydata 112 is an initial or first stored body of data generated by thesource application 110. Primary data 112 in some cases is createdsubstantially directly from data generated by the corresponding sourceapplication 110. It can be useful in performing certain tasks toorganize primary data 112 into units of different granularities. Ingeneral, primary data 112 can include files, directories, file systemvolumes, data blocks, extents, or any other hierarchies or organizationsof data objects. As used herein, a “data object” can refer to (i) anyfile that is currently addressable by a file system or that waspreviously addressable by the file system (e.g., an archive file),and/or to (ii) a subset of such a file (e.g., a data block, an extent,etc.). Primary data 112 may include structured data (e.g., databasefiles), unstructured data (e.g., documents), and/or semi-structureddata. See, e.g., FIG. 1B.

It can also be useful in performing certain functions of system 100 toaccess and modify metadata within primary data 112. Metadata generallyincludes information about data objects and/or characteristicsassociated with the data objects. For simplicity herein, it is to beunderstood that, unless expressly stated otherwise, any reference toprimary data 112 generally also includes its associated metadata, butreferences to metadata generally do not include the primary data.Metadata can include, without limitation, one or more of the following:the data owner (e.g., the client or user that generates the data), thelast modified time (e.g., the time of the most recent modification ofthe data object), a data object name (e.g., a file name), a data objectsize (e.g., a number of bytes of data), information about the content(e.g., an indication as to the existence of a particular search term),user-supplied tags, to/from information for email (e.g., an emailsender, recipient, etc.), creation date, file type (e.g., format orapplication type), last accessed time, application type (e.g., type ofapplication that generated the data object), location/network (e.g., acurrent, past or future location of the data object and network pathwaysto/from the data object), geographic location (e.g., GPS coordinates),frequency of change (e.g., a period in which the data object ismodified), business unit (e.g., a group or department that generates,manages or is otherwise associated with the data object), aginginformation (e.g., a schedule, such as a time period, in which the dataobject is migrated to secondary or long term storage), boot sectors,partition layouts, file location within a file folder directorystructure, user permissions, owners, groups, access control lists(ACLs), system metadata (e.g., registry information), combinations ofthe same or other similar information related to the data object. Inaddition to metadata generated by or related to file systems andoperating systems, some applications 110 and/or other components ofsystem 100 maintain indices of metadata for data objects, e.g., metadataassociated with individual email messages. The use of metadata toperform classification and other functions is described in greaterdetail below.

Primary storage devices 104 storing primary data 112 may be relativelyfast and/or expensive technology (e.g., flash storage, a disk drive, ahard-disk storage array, solid state memory, etc.), typically to supporthigh-performance live production environments. Primary data 112 may behighly changeable and/or may be intended for relatively short termretention (e.g., hours, days, or weeks). According to some embodiments,client computing device 102 can access primary data 112 stored inprimary storage device 104 by making conventional file system calls viathe operating system. Each client computing device 102 is generallyassociated with and/or in communication with one or more primary storagedevices 104 storing corresponding primary data 112. A client computingdevice 102 is said to be associated with or in communication with aparticular primary storage device 104 if it is capable of one or moreof: routing and/or storing data (e.g., primary data 112) to the primarystorage device 104, coordinating the routing and/or storing of data tothe primary storage device 104, retrieving data from the primary storagedevice 104, coordinating the retrieval of data from the primary storagedevice 104, and modifying and/or deleting data in the primary storagedevice 104. Thus, a client computing device 102 may be said to accessdata stored in an associated storage device 104.

Primary storage device 104 may be dedicated or shared. In some cases,each primary storage device 104 is dedicated to an associated clientcomputing device 102, e.g., a local disk drive. In other cases, one ormore primary storage devices 104 can be shared by multiple clientcomputing devices 102, e.g., via a local network, in a cloud storageimplementation, etc. As one example, primary storage device 104 can be astorage array shared by a group of client computing devices 102, such asEMC Clariion, EMC Symmetrix, EMC Celerra, Dell EqualLogic, IBM XIV,NetApp FAS, HP EVA, and HP 3PAR.

System 100 may also include hosted services (not shown), which may behosted in some cases by an entity other than the organization thatemploys the other components of system 100. For instance, the hostedservices may be provided by online service providers. Such serviceproviders can provide social networking services, hosted email services,or hosted productivity applications or other hosted applications such assoftware-as-a-service (SaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), applicationservice providers (ASPs), cloud services, or other mechanisms fordelivering functionality via a network. As it services users, eachhosted service may generate additional data and metadata, which may bemanaged by system 100, e.g., as primary data 112. In some cases, thehosted services may be accessed using one of the applications 110. As anexample, a hosted mail service may be accessed via browser running on aclient computing device 102.

Secondary Copies and Exemplary Secondary Storage Devices

Primary data 112 stored on primary storage devices 104 may becompromised in some cases, such as when an employee deliberately oraccidentally deletes or overwrites primary data 112. Or primary storagedevices 104 can be damaged, lost, or otherwise corrupted. For recoveryand/or regulatory compliance purposes, it is therefore useful togenerate and maintain copies of primary data 112. Accordingly, system100 includes one or more secondary storage computing devices 106 and oneor more secondary storage devices 108 configured to create and store oneor more secondary copies 116 of primary data 112 including itsassociated metadata. The secondary storage computing devices 106 and thesecondary storage devices 108 may be referred to as secondary storagesubsystem 118.

Secondary copies 116 can help in search and analysis efforts and meetother information management goals as well, such as: restoring dataand/or metadata if an original version is lost (e.g., by deletion,corruption, or disaster); allowing point-in-time recovery; complyingwith regulatory data retention and electronic discovery (e-discovery)requirements; reducing utilized storage capacity in the productionsystem and/or in secondary storage; facilitating organization and searchof data; improving user access to data files across multiple computingdevices and/or hosted services; and implementing data retention andpruning policies.

A secondary copy 116 can comprise a separate stored copy of data that isderived from one or more earlier-created stored copies (e.g., derivedfrom primary data 112 or from another secondary copy 116). Secondarycopies 116 can include point-in-time data, and may be intended forrelatively long-term retention before some or all of the data is movedto other storage or discarded. In some cases, a secondary copy 116 maybe in a different storage device than other previously stored copies;and/or may be remote from other previously stored copies. Secondarycopies 116 can be stored in the same storage device as primary data 112.For example, a disk array capable of performing hardware snapshotsstores primary data 112 and creates and stores hardware snapshots of theprimary data 112 as secondary copies 116. Secondary copies 116 may bestored in relatively slow and/or lower cost storage (e.g., magnetictape). A secondary copy 116 may be stored in a backup or archive format,or in some other format different from the native source applicationformat or other format of primary data 112.

Secondary storage computing devices 106 may index secondary copies 116(e.g., using a media agent 144), enabling users to browse and restore ata later time and further enabling the lifecycle management of theindexed data. After creation of a secondary copy 116 that representscertain primary data 112, a pointer or other location indicia (e.g., astub) may be placed in primary data 112, or be otherwise associated withprimary data 112, to indicate the current location of a particularsecondary copy 116. Since an instance of a data object or metadata inprimary data 112 may change over time as it is modified by application110 (or hosted service or the operating system), system 100 may createand manage multiple secondary copies 116 of a particular data object ormetadata, each copy representing the state of the data object in primarydata 112 at a particular point in time. Moreover, since an instance of adata object in primary data 112 may eventually be deleted from primarystorage device 104 and the file system, system 100 may continue tomanage point-in-time representations of that data object, even thoughthe instance in primary data 112 no longer exists. For virtual machines,the operating system and other applications 110 of client computingdevice(s) 102 may execute within or under the management ofvirtualization software (e.g., a VMM), and the primary storage device(s)104 may comprise a virtual disk created on a physical storage device.System 100 may create secondary copies 116 of the files or other dataobjects in a virtual disk file and/or secondary copies 116 of the entirevirtual disk file itself (e.g., of an entire .vmdk file).

Secondary copies 116 are distinguishable from corresponding primary data112. First, secondary copies 116 can be stored in a different formatfrom primary data 112 (e.g., backup, archive, or other non-nativeformat). For this or other reasons, secondary copies 116 may not bedirectly usable by applications 110 or client computing device 102(e.g., via standard system calls or otherwise) without modification,processing, or other intervention by system 100 which may be referred toas “restore” operations. Secondary copies 116 may have been processed bydata agent 142 and/or media agent 144 in the course of being created(e.g., compression, deduplication, encryption, integrity markers,indexing, formatting, application-aware metadata, etc.), and thussecondary copy 116 may represent source primary data 112 withoutnecessarily being exactly identical to the source.

Second, secondary copies 116 may be stored on a secondary storage device108 that is inaccessible to application 110 running on client computingdevice 102 and/or hosted service. Some secondary copies 116 may be“offline copies,” in that they are not readily available (e.g., notmounted to tape or disk). Offline copies can include copies of data thatsystem 100 can access without human intervention (e.g., tapes within anautomated tape library, but not yet mounted in a drive), and copies thatthe system 100 can access only with some human intervention (e.g., tapeslocated at an offsite storage site).

Using Intermediate Devices for Creating Secondary Copies—SecondaryStorage Computing Devices

Creating secondary copies can be challenging when hundreds or thousandsof client computing devices 102 continually generate large volumes ofprimary data 112 to be protected. Also, there can be significantoverhead involved in the creation of secondary copies 116. Moreover,specialized programmed intelligence and/or hardware capability isgenerally needed for accessing and interacting with secondary storagedevices 108. Client computing devices 102 may interact directly with asecondary storage device 108 to create secondary copies 116, but in viewof the factors described above, this approach can negatively impact theability of client computing device 102 to serve/service application 110and produce primary data 112. Further, any given client computing device102 may not be optimized for interaction with certain secondary storagedevices 108.

Thus, system 100 may include one or more software and/or hardwarecomponents which generally act as intermediaries between clientcomputing devices 102 (that generate primary data 112) and secondarystorage devices 108 (that store secondary copies 116). In addition tooff-loading certain responsibilities from client computing devices 102,these intermediate components provide other benefits. For instance, asdiscussed further below with respect to FIG. 1D, distributing some ofthe work involved in creating secondary copies 116 can enhancescalability and improve system performance. For instance, usingspecialized secondary storage computing devices 106 and media agents 144for interfacing with secondary storage devices 108 and/or for performingcertain data processing operations can greatly improve the speed withwhich system 100 performs information management operations and can alsoimprove the capacity of the system to handle large numbers of suchoperations, while reducing the computational load on the productionenvironment of client computing devices 102. The intermediate componentscan include one or more secondary storage computing devices 106 as shownin FIG. 1A and/or one or more media agents 144. Media agents arediscussed further below (e.g., with respect to FIGS. 1C-1E). Thesespecial-purpose components of system 100 comprise specialized programmedintelligence and/or hardware capability for writing to, reading from,instructing, communicating with, or otherwise interacting with secondarystorage devices 108.

Secondary storage computing device(s) 106 can comprise any of thecomputing devices described above, without limitation. In some cases,secondary storage computing device(s) 106 also include specializedhardware componentry and/or software intelligence (e.g., specializedinterfaces) for interacting with certain secondary storage device(s) 108with which they may be specially associated.

To create a secondary copy 116 involving the copying of data fromprimary storage subsystem 117 to secondary storage subsystem 118, clientcomputing device 102 may communicate the primary data 112 to be copied(or a processed version thereof generated by a data agent 142) to thedesignated secondary storage computing device 106, via a communicationpathway 114. Secondary storage computing device 106 in turn may furtherprocess and convey the data or a processed version thereof to secondarystorage device 108. One or more secondary copies 116 may be created fromexisting secondary copies 116, such as in the case of an auxiliary copyoperation, described further below.

Exemplary Primary Data and an Exemplary Secondary Copy

FIG. 1B is a detailed view of some specific examples of primary datastored on primary storage device(s) 104 and secondary copy data storedon secondary storage device(s) 108, with other components of the systemremoved for the purposes of illustration. Stored on primary storagedevice(s) 104 are primary data 112 objects including word processingdocuments 119A-B, spreadsheets 120, presentation documents 122, videofiles 124, image files 126, email mailboxes 128 (and corresponding emailmessages 129A-C), HTML/XML or other types of markup language files 130,databases 132 and corresponding tables or other data structures133A-133C. Some or all primary data 112 objects are associated withcorresponding metadata (e.g., “Meta1-11”), which may include file systemmetadata and/or application-specific metadata. Stored on the secondarystorage device(s) 108 are secondary copy 116 data objects 134A-C whichmay include copies of or may otherwise represent corresponding primarydata 112.

Secondary copy data objects 134A-C can individually represent more thanone primary data object. For example, secondary copy data object 134Arepresents three separate primary data objects 133C, 122, and 129C(represented as 133C′, 122′, and 129C′, respectively, and accompanied bycorresponding metadata Meta11, Meta3, and Meta8, respectively).Moreover, as indicated by the prime mark (′), secondary storagecomputing devices 106 or other components in secondary storage subsystem118 may process the data received from primary storage subsystem 117 andstore a secondary copy including a transformed and/or supplementedrepresentation of a primary data object and/or metadata that isdifferent from the original format, e.g., in a compressed, encrypted,deduplicated, or other modified format. For instance, secondary storagecomputing devices 106 can generate new metadata or other informationbased on said processing, and store the newly generated informationalong with the secondary copies. Secondary copy data object 134Brepresents primary data objects 120, 1336, and 119A as 120′, 1336′, and119A′, respectively, accompanied by corresponding metadata Meta2,Meta10, and Meta1, respectively. Also, secondary copy data object 134Crepresents primary data objects 133A, 1196, and 129A as 133A′, 1196′,and 129A′, respectively, accompanied by corresponding metadata Meta9,Meta5, and Meta6, respectively.

Exemplary Information Management System Architecture

System 100 can incorporate a variety of different hardware and softwarecomponents, which can in turn be organized with respect to one anotherin many different configurations, depending on the embodiment. There arecritical design choices involved in specifying the functionalresponsibilities of the components and the role of each component insystem 100. Such design choices can impact how system 100 performs andadapts to data growth and other changing circumstances. FIG. 1C shows asystem 100 designed according to these considerations and includes:storage manager 140, one or more data agents 142 executing on clientcomputing device(s) 102 and configured to process primary data 112, andone or more media agents 144 executing on one or more secondary storagecomputing devices 106 for performing tasks involving secondary storagedevices 108.

Storage Manager

Storage manager 140 is a centralized storage and/or information managerthat is configured to perform certain control functions and also tostore certain critical information about system 100—hence storagemanager 140 is said to manage system 100. As noted, the number ofcomponents in system 100 and the amount of data under management can belarge. Managing the components and data is therefore a significant task,which can grow unpredictably as the number of components and data scaleto meet the needs of the organization. For these and other reasons,according to certain embodiments, responsibility for controlling system100, or at least a significant portion of that responsibility, isallocated to storage manager 140. Storage manager 140 can be adaptedindependently according to changing circumstances, without having toreplace or re-design the remainder of the system. Moreover, a computingdevice for hosting and/or operating as storage manager 140 can beselected to best suit the functions and networking needs of storagemanager 140. These and other advantages are described in further detailbelow and with respect to FIG. 1D.

Storage manager 140 may be a software module or other application hostedby a suitable computing device. In some embodiments, storage manager 140is itself a computing device that performs the functions describedherein. Storage manager 140 comprises or operates in conjunction withone or more associated data structures such as a dedicated database(e.g., management database 146), depending on the configuration. Thestorage manager 140 generally initiates, performs, coordinates, and/orcontrols storage and other information management operations performedby system 100, e.g., to protect and control primary data 112 andsecondary copies 116. In general, storage manager 140 is said to managesystem 100, which includes communicating with, instructing, andcontrolling in some circumstances components such as data agents 142 andmedia agents 144, etc.

As shown by the dashed arrowed lines 114 in FIG. 1C, storage manager 140may communicate with, instruct, and/or control some or all elements ofsystem 100, such as data agents 142 and media agents 144. In thismanner, storage manager 140 manages the operation of various hardwareand software components in system 100. In certain embodiments, controlinformation originates from storage manager 140 and status as well asindex reporting is transmitted to storage manager 140 by the managedcomponents, whereas payload data and metadata are generally communicatedbetween data agents 142 and media agents 144 (or otherwise betweenclient computing device(s) 102 and secondary storage computing device(s)106), e.g., at the direction of and under the management of storagemanager 140. Control information can generally include parameters andinstructions for carrying out information management operations, suchas, without limitation, instructions to perform a task associated withan operation, timing information specifying when to initiate a task,data path information specifying what components to communicate with oraccess in carrying out an operation, and the like. In other embodiments,some information management operations are controlled or initiated byother components of system 100 (e.g., by media agents 144 or data agents142), instead of or in combination with storage manager 140.

According to certain embodiments, storage manager 140 provides one ormore of the following functions:

-   -   communicating with data agents 142 and media agents 144,        including transmitting instructions, messages, and/or queries,        as well as receiving status reports, index information,        messages, and/or queries, and responding to same;    -   initiating execution of information management operations;    -   initiating restore and recovery operations;    -   managing secondary storage devices 108 and inventory/capacity of        the same;    -   allocating secondary storage devices 108 for secondary copy        operations;    -   reporting, searching, and/or classification of data in system        100;    -   monitoring completion of and status reporting related to        information management operations and jobs;    -   tracking movement of data within system 100;    -   tracking age information relating to secondary copies 116,        secondary storage devices 108, comparing the age information        against retention guidelines, and initiating data pruning when        appropriate;    -   tracking logical associations between components in system 100;    -   protecting metadata associated with system 100, e.g., in        management database 146;    -   implementing job management, schedule management, event        management, alert management, reporting, job history        maintenance, user security management, disaster recovery        management, and/or user interfacing for system administrators        and/or end users of system 100;    -   sending, searching, and/or viewing of log files; and    -   implementing operations management functionality.

Storage manager 140 may maintain an associated database 146 (or “storagemanager database 146” or “management database 146”) ofmanagement-related data and information management policies 148.Database 146 is stored in computer memory accessible by storage manager140. Database 146 may include a management index 150 (or “index 150”) orother data structure(s) that may store: logical associations betweencomponents of the system; user preferences and/or profiles (e.g.,preferences regarding encryption, compression, or deduplication ofprimary data or secondary copies; preferences regarding the scheduling,type, or other aspects of secondary copy or other operations; mappingsof particular information management users or user accounts to certaincomputing devices or other components, etc.; management tasks; mediacontainerization; other useful data; and/or any combination thereof. Forexample, storage manager 140 may use index 150 to track logicalassociations between media agents 144 and secondary storage devices 108and/or movement of data to/from secondary storage devices 108. Forinstance, index 150 may store data associating a client computing device102 with a particular media agent 144 and/or secondary storage device108, as specified in an information management policy 148.

Administrators and others may configure and initiate certain informationmanagement operations on an individual basis. But while this may beacceptable for some recovery operations or other infrequent tasks, it isoften not workable for implementing on-going organization-wide dataprotection and management. Thus, system 100 may utilize informationmanagement policies 148 for specifying and executing informationmanagement operations on an automated basis. Generally, an informationmanagement policy 148 can include a stored data structure or otherinformation source that specifies parameters (e.g., criteria and rules)associated with storage management or other information managementoperations. Storage manager 140 can process an information managementpolicy 148 and/or index 150 and, based on the results, identify aninformation management operation to perform, identify the appropriatecomponents in system 100 to be involved in the operation (e.g., clientcomputing devices 102 and corresponding data agents 142, secondarystorage computing devices 106 and corresponding media agents 144, etc.),establish connections to those components and/or between thosecomponents, and/or instruct and control those components to carry outthe operation. In this manner, system 100 can translate storedinformation into coordinated activity among the various computingdevices in system 100.

Management database 146 may maintain information management policies 148and associated data, although information management policies 148 can bestored in computer memory at any appropriate location outside managementdatabase 146. For instance, an information management policy 148 such asa storage policy may be stored as metadata in a media agent database 152or in a secondary storage device 108 (e.g., as an archive copy) for usein restore or other information management operations, depending on theembodiment. Information management policies 148 are described furtherbelow. According to certain embodiments, management database 146comprises a relational database (e.g., an SQL database) for trackingmetadata, such as metadata associated with secondary copy operations(e.g., what client computing devices 102 and corresponding subclientdata were protected and where the secondary copies are stored and whichmedia agent 144 performed the storage operation(s)). This and othermetadata may additionally be stored in other locations, such as atsecondary storage computing device 106 or on the secondary storagedevice 108, allowing data recovery without the use of storage manager140 in some cases. Thus, management database 146 may comprise dataneeded to kick off secondary copy operations (e.g., storage policies,schedule policies, etc.), status and reporting information aboutcompleted jobs (e.g., status and error reports on yesterday's backupjobs), and additional information sufficient to enable restore anddisaster recovery operations (e.g., media agent associations, locationindexing, content indexing, etc.).

Storage manager 140 may include a jobs agent 156, a user interface 158,and a management agent 154, all of which may be implemented asinterconnected software modules or application programs. These aredescribed further below.

Jobs agent 156 in some embodiments initiates, controls, and/or monitorsthe status of some or all information management operations previouslyperformed, currently being performed, or scheduled to be performed bysystem 100. A job is a logical grouping of information managementoperations such as daily storage operations scheduled for a certain setof subclients (e.g., generating incremental block-level backup copies116 at a certain time every day for database files in a certaingeographical location). Thus, jobs agent 156 may access informationmanagement policies 148 (e.g., in management database 146) to determinewhen, where, and how to initiate/control jobs in system 100.

Storage Manager User Interfaces

User interface 158 may include information processing and displaysoftware, such as a graphical user interface (GUI), an applicationprogram interface (API), and/or other interactive interface(s) throughwhich users and system processes can retrieve information about thestatus of information management operations or issue instructions tostorage manager 140 and other components. Via user interface 158, usersmay issue instructions to the components in system 100 regardingperformance of secondary copy and recovery operations. For example, auser may modify a schedule concerning the number of pending secondarycopy operations. As another example, a user may employ the GUI to viewthe status of pending secondary copy jobs or to monitor the status ofcertain components in system 100 (e.g., the amount of capacity left in astorage device). Storage manager 140 may track information that permitsit to select, designate, or otherwise identify content indices,deduplication databases, or similar databases or resources or data setswithin its information management cell (or another cell) to be searchedin response to certain queries. Such queries may be entered by the userby interacting with user interface 158.

Various embodiments of information management system 100 may beconfigured and/or designed to generate user interface data usable forrendering the various interactive user interfaces described. The userinterface data may be used by system 100 and/or by another system,device, and/or software program (for example, a browser program), torender the interactive user interfaces. The interactive user interfacesmay be displayed on, for example, electronic displays (including, forexample, touch-enabled displays), consoles, etc., whetherdirect-connected to storage manager 140 or communicatively coupledremotely, e.g., via an internet connection. The present disclosuredescribes various embodiments of interactive and dynamic userinterfaces, some of which may be generated by user interface agent 158,and which are the result of significant technological development. Theuser interfaces described herein may provide improved human-computerinteractions, allowing for significant cognitive and ergonomicefficiencies and advantages over previous systems, including reducedmental workloads, improved decision-making, and the like. User interface158 may operate in a single integrated view or console (not shown). Theconsole may support a reporting capability for generating a variety ofreports, which may be tailored to a particular aspect of informationmanagement.

User interfaces are not exclusive to storage manager 140 and in someembodiments a user may access information locally from a computingdevice component of system 100. For example, some information pertainingto installed data agents 142 and associated data streams may beavailable from client computing device 102. Likewise, some informationpertaining to media agents 144 and associated data streams may beavailable from secondary storage computing device 106.

Storage Manager Management Agent

Management agent 154 can provide storage manager 140 with the ability tocommunicate with other components within system 100 and/or with otherinformation management cells via network protocols and applicationprogramming interfaces (APIs) including, e.g., HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, REST,virtualization software APIs, cloud service provider APIs, and hostedservice provider APIs, without limitation. Management agent 154 alsoallows multiple information management cells to communicate with oneanother. For example, system 100 in some cases may be one informationmanagement cell in a network of multiple cells adjacent to one anotheror otherwise logically related, e.g., in a WAN or LAN. With thisarrangement, the cells may communicate with one another throughrespective management agents 154. Inter-cell communications andhierarchy is described in greater detail in e.g., U.S. Pat. No.7,343,453.

Information Management Cell

An “information management cell” (or “storage operation cell” or “cell”)may generally include a logical and/or physical grouping of acombination of hardware and software components associated withperforming information management operations on electronic data,typically one storage manager 140 and at least one data agent 142(executing on a client computing device 102) and at least one mediaagent 144 (executing on a secondary storage computing device 106). Forinstance, the components shown in FIG. 1C may together form aninformation management cell. Thus, in some configurations, a system 100may be referred to as an information management cell or a storageoperation cell. A given cell may be identified by the identity of itsstorage manager 140, which is generally responsible for managing thecell.

Multiple cells may be organized hierarchically, so that cells mayinherit properties from hierarchically superior cells or be controlledby other cells in the hierarchy (automatically or otherwise).Alternatively, in some embodiments, cells may inherit or otherwise beassociated with information management policies, preferences,information management operational parameters, or other properties orcharacteristics according to their relative position in a hierarchy ofcells. Cells may also be organized hierarchically according to function,geography, architectural considerations, or other factors useful ordesirable in performing information management operations. For example,a first cell may represent a geographic segment of an enterprise, suchas a Chicago office, and a second cell may represent a differentgeographic segment, such as a New York City office. Other cells mayrepresent departments within a particular office, e.g., human resources,finance, engineering, etc. Where delineated by function, a first cellmay perform one or more first types of information management operations(e.g., one or more first types of secondary copies at a certainfrequency), and a second cell may perform one or more second types ofinformation management operations (e.g., one or more second types ofsecondary copies at a different frequency and under different retentionrules). In general, the hierarchical information is maintained by one ormore storage managers 140 that manage the respective cells (e.g., incorresponding management database(s) 146).

Data Agents

A variety of different applications 110 can operate on a given clientcomputing device 102, including operating systems, file systems,database applications, e-mail applications, and virtual machines, justto name a few. And, as part of the process of creating and restoringsecondary copies 116, the client computing device 102 may be tasked withprocessing and preparing the primary data 112 generated by these variousapplications 110. Moreover, the nature of the processing/preparation candiffer across application types, e.g., due to inherent structural,state, and formatting differences among applications 110 and/or theoperating system of client computing device 102. Each data agent 142 istherefore advantageously configured in some embodiments to assist in theperformance of information management operations based on the type ofdata that is being protected at a client-specific and/orapplication-specific level.

Data agent 142 is a component of information system 100 and is generallydirected by storage manager 140 to participate in creating or restoringsecondary copies 116. Data agent 142 may be a software program (e.g., inthe form of a set of executable binary files) that executes on the sameclient computing device 102 as the associated application 110 that dataagent 142 is configured to protect. Data agent 142 is generallyresponsible for managing, initiating, or otherwise assisting in theperformance of information management operations in reference to itsassociated application(s) 110 and corresponding primary data 112 whichis generated/accessed by the particular application(s) 110. Forinstance, data agent 142 may take part in copying, archiving, migrating,and/or replicating of certain primary data 112 stored in the primarystorage device(s) 104. Data agent 142 may receive control informationfrom storage manager 140, such as commands to transfer copies of dataobjects and/or metadata to one or more media agents 144. Data agent 142also may compress, deduplicate, and encrypt certain primary data 112, aswell as capture application-related metadata before transmitting theprocessed data to media agent 144. Data agent 142 also may receiveinstructions from storage manager 140 to restore (or assist inrestoring) a secondary copy 116 from secondary storage device 108 toprimary storage 104, such that the restored data may be properlyaccessed by application 110 in a suitable format as though it wereprimary data 112.

Each data agent 142 may be specialized for a particular application 110.For instance, different individual data agents 142 may be designed tohandle Microsoft Exchange data, Lotus Notes data, Microsoft Windows filesystem data, Microsoft Active Directory Objects data, SQL Server data,SharePoint data, Oracle database data, SAP database data, virtualmachines and/or associated data, and other types of data. A file systemdata agent, for example, may handle data files and/or other file systeminformation. If a client computing device 102 has two or more types ofdata 112, a specialized data agent 142 may be used for each data type.For example, to backup, migrate, and/or restore all of the data on aMicrosoft Exchange server, the client computing device 102 may use: (1)a Microsoft Exchange Mailbox data agent 142 to back up the Exchangemailboxes; (2) a Microsoft Exchange Database data agent 142 to back upthe Exchange databases; (3) a Microsoft Exchange Public Folder dataagent 142 to back up the Exchange Public Folders; and (4) a MicrosoftWindows File System data agent 142 to back up the file system of clientcomputing device 102. In this example, these specialized data agents 142are treated as four separate data agents 142 even though they operate onthe same client computing device 102. Other examples may include archivemanagement data agents such as a migration archiver or a compliancearchiver, Quick Recovery® agents, and continuous data replicationagents. Application-specific data agents 142 can provide improvedperformance as compared to generic agents. For instance, becauseapplication-specific data agents 142 may only handle data for a singlesoftware application, the design, operation, and performance of the dataagent 142 can be streamlined. The data agent 142 may therefore executefaster and consume less persistent storage and/or operating memory thandata agents designed to generically accommodate multiple differentsoftware applications 110.

Each data agent 142 may be configured to access data and/or metadatastored in the primary storage device(s) 104 associated with data agent142 and its host client computing device 102, and process the dataappropriately. For example, during a secondary copy operation, dataagent 142 may arrange or assemble the data and metadata into one or morefiles having a certain format (e.g., a particular backup or archiveformat) before transferring the file(s) to a media agent 144 or othercomponent. The file(s) may include a list of files or other metadata. Insome embodiments, a data agent 142 may be distributed between clientcomputing device 102 and storage manager 140 (and any other intermediatecomponents) or may be deployed from a remote location or its functionsapproximated by a remote process that performs some or all of thefunctions of data agent 142. In addition, a data agent 142 may performsome functions provided by media agent 144. Other embodiments may employone or more generic data agents 142 that can handle and process datafrom two or more different applications 110, or that can handle andprocess multiple data types, instead of or in addition to usingspecialized data agents 142. For example, one generic data agent 142 maybe used to back up, migrate and restore Microsoft Exchange Mailbox dataand Microsoft Exchange Database data, while another generic data agentmay handle Microsoft Exchange Public Folder data and Microsoft WindowsFile System data.

Media Agents

As noted, off-loading certain responsibilities from client computingdevices 102 to intermediate components such as secondary storagecomputing device(s) 106 and corresponding media agent(s) 144 can providea number of benefits including improved performance of client computingdevice 102, faster and more reliable information management operations,and enhanced scalability. In one example which will be discussed furtherbelow, media agent 144 can act as a local cache of recently-copied dataand/or metadata stored to secondary storage device(s) 108, thusimproving restore capabilities and performance for the cached data.

Media agent 144 is a component of system 100 and is generally directedby storage manager 140 in creating and restoring secondary copies 116.Whereas storage manager 140 generally manages system 100 as a whole,media agent 144 provides a portal to certain secondary storage devices108, such as by having specialized features for communicating with andaccessing certain associated secondary storage device 108. Media agent144 may be a software program (e.g., in the form of a set of executablebinary files) that executes on a secondary storage computing device 106.Media agent 144 generally manages, coordinates, and facilitates thetransmission of data between a data agent 142 (executing on clientcomputing device 102) and secondary storage device(s) 108 associatedwith media agent 144. For instance, other components in the system mayinteract with media agent 144 to gain access to data stored onassociated secondary storage device(s) 108, (e.g., to browse, read,write, modify, delete, or restore data). Moreover, media agents 144 cangenerate and store information relating to characteristics of the storeddata and/or metadata, or can generate and store other types ofinformation that generally provides insight into the contents of thesecondary storage devices 108—generally referred to as indexing of thestored secondary copies 116. Each media agent 144 may operate on adedicated secondary storage computing device 106, while in otherembodiments a plurality of media agents 144 may operate on the samesecondary storage computing device 106.

A media agent 144 may be associated with a particular secondary storagedevice 108 if that media agent 144 is capable of one or more of: routingand/or storing data to the particular secondary storage device 108;coordinating the routing and/or storing of data to the particularsecondary storage device 108; retrieving data from the particularsecondary storage device 108; coordinating the retrieval of data fromthe particular secondary storage device 108; and modifying and/ordeleting data retrieved from the particular secondary storage device108. Media agent 144 in certain embodiments is physically separate fromthe associated secondary storage device 108. For instance, a media agent144 may operate on a secondary storage computing device 106 in adistinct housing, package, and/or location from the associated secondarystorage device 108. In one example, a media agent 144 operates on afirst server computer and is in communication with a secondary storagedevice(s) 108 operating in a separate rack-mounted RAID-based system.

A media agent 144 associated with a particular secondary storage device108 may instruct secondary storage device 108 to perform an informationmanagement task. For instance, a media agent 144 may instruct a tapelibrary to use a robotic arm or other retrieval means to load or eject acertain storage media, and to subsequently archive, migrate, or retrievedata to or from that media, e.g., for the purpose of restoring data to aclient computing device 102. As another example, a secondary storagedevice 108 may include an array of hard disk drives or solid statedrives organized in a RAID configuration, and media agent 144 mayforward a logical unit number (LUN) and other appropriate information tothe array, which uses the received information to execute the desiredsecondary copy operation. Media agent 144 may communicate with asecondary storage device 108 via a suitable communications link, such asa SCSI or Fibre Channel link.

Each media agent 144 may maintain an associated media agent database152. Media agent database 152 may be stored to a disk or other storagedevice (not shown) that is local to the secondary storage computingdevice 106 on which media agent 144 executes. In other cases, mediaagent database 152 is stored separately from the host secondary storagecomputing device 106. Media agent database 152 can include, among otherthings, a media agent index 153 (see, e.g., FIG. 1C). In some cases,media agent index 153 does not form a part of and is instead separatefrom media agent database 152.

Media agent index 153 (or “index 153”) may be a data structureassociated with the particular media agent 144 that includes informationabout the stored data associated with the particular media agent andwhich may be generated in the course of performing a secondary copyoperation or a restore. Index 153 provides a fast and efficientmechanism for locating/browsing secondary copies 116 or other datastored in secondary storage devices 108 without having to accesssecondary storage device 108 to retrieve the information from there. Forinstance, for each secondary copy 116, index 153 may include metadatasuch as a list of the data objects (e.g., files/subdirectories, databaseobjects, mailbox objects, etc.), a logical path to the secondary copy116 on the corresponding secondary storage device 108, locationinformation (e.g., offsets) indicating where the data objects are storedin the secondary storage device 108, when the data objects were createdor modified, etc. Thus, index 153 includes metadata associated with thesecondary copies 116 that is readily available for use from media agent144. In some embodiments, some or all of the information in index 153may instead or additionally be stored along with secondary copies 116 insecondary storage device 108. In some embodiments, a secondary storagedevice 108 can include sufficient information to enable a “bare metalrestore,” where the operating system and/or software applications of afailed client computing device 102 or another target may beautomatically restored without manually reinstalling individual softwarepackages (including operating systems).

Because index 153 may operate as a cache, it can also be referred to asan “index cache.” In such cases, information stored in index cache 153typically comprises data that reflects certain particulars aboutrelatively recent secondary copy operations. After some triggeringevent, such as after some time elapses or index cache 153 reaches aparticular size, certain portions of index cache 153 may be copied ormigrated to secondary storage device 108, e.g., on a least-recently-usedbasis. This information may be retrieved and uploaded back into indexcache 153 or otherwise restored to media agent 144 to facilitateretrieval of data from the secondary storage device(s) 108. In someembodiments, the cached information may include format orcontainerization information related to archives or other files storedon storage device(s) 108.

In some alternative embodiments media agent 144 generally acts as acoordinator or facilitator of secondary copy operations between clientcomputing devices 102 and secondary storage devices 108, but does notactually write the data to secondary storage device 108. For instance,storage manager 140 (or media agent 144) may instruct a client computingdevice 102 and secondary storage device 108 to communicate with oneanother directly. In such a case, client computing device 102 transmitsdata directly or via one or more intermediary components to secondarystorage device 108 according to the received instructions, and viceversa. Media agent 144 may still receive, process, and/or maintainmetadata related to the secondary copy operations, i.e., may continue tobuild and maintain index 153. In these embodiments, payload data canflow through media agent 144 for the purposes of populating index 153,but not for writing to secondary storage device 108. Media agent 144and/or other components such as storage manager 140 may in some casesincorporate additional functionality, such as data classification,content indexing, deduplication, encryption, compression, and the like.Further details regarding these and other functions are described below.

Distributed, Scalable Architecture

As described, certain functions of system 100 can be distributed amongstvarious physical and/or logical components. For instance, one or more ofstorage manager 140, data agents 142, and media agents 144 may operateon computing devices that are physically separate from one another. Thisarchitecture can provide a number of benefits. For instance, hardwareand software design choices for each distributed component can betargeted to suit its particular function. The secondary computingdevices 106 on which media agents 144 operate can be tailored forinteraction with associated secondary storage devices 108 and providefast index cache operation, among other specific tasks. Similarly,client computing device(s) 102 can be selected to effectively serviceapplications 110 in order to efficiently produce and store primary data112.

Moreover, in some cases, one or more of the individual components ofinformation management system 100 can be distributed to multipleseparate computing devices. As one example, for large file systems wherethe amount of data stored in management database 146 is relativelylarge, database 146 may be migrated to or may otherwise reside on aspecialized database server (e.g., an SQL server) separate from a serverthat implements the other functions of storage manager 140. Thisdistributed configuration can provide added protection because database146 can be protected with standard database utilities (e.g., SQL logshipping or database replication) independent from other functions ofstorage manager 140. Database 146 can be efficiently replicated to aremote site for use in the event of a disaster or other data loss at theprimary site. Or database 146 can be replicated to another computingdevice within the same site, such as to a higher performance machine inthe event that a storage manager host computing device can no longerservice the needs of a growing system 100.

The distributed architecture also provides scalability and efficientcomponent utilization. FIG. 1D shows an embodiment of informationmanagement system 100 including a plurality of client computing devices102 and associated data agents 142 as well as a plurality of secondarystorage computing devices 106 and associated media agents 144.Additional components can be added or subtracted based on the evolvingneeds of system 100. For instance, depending on where bottlenecks areidentified, administrators can add additional client computing devices102, secondary storage computing devices 106, and/or secondary storagedevices 108. Moreover, where multiple fungible components are available,load balancing can be implemented to dynamically address identifiedbottlenecks. As an example, storage manager 140 may dynamically selectwhich media agents 144 and/or secondary storage devices 108 to use forstorage operations based on a processing load analysis of media agents144 and/or secondary storage devices 108, respectively.

Where system 100 includes multiple media agents 144 (see, e.g., FIG.1D), a first media agent 144 may provide failover functionality for asecond failed media agent 144. In addition, media agents 144 can bedynamically selected to provide load balancing. Each client computingdevice 102 can communicate with, among other components, any of themedia agents 144, e.g., as directed by storage manager 140. And eachmedia agent 144 may communicate with, among other components, any ofsecondary storage devices 108, e.g., as directed by storage manager 140.Thus, operations can be routed to secondary storage devices 108 in adynamic and highly flexible manner, to provide load balancing, failover,etc. Further examples of scalable systems capable of dynamic storageoperations, load balancing, and failover are provided in U.S. Pat. No.7,246,207.

While distributing functionality amongst multiple computing devices canhave certain advantages, in other contexts it can be beneficial toconsolidate functionality on the same computing device. In alternativeconfigurations, certain components may reside and execute on the samecomputing device. As such, in other embodiments, one or more of thecomponents shown in FIG. 1C may be implemented on the same computingdevice. In one configuration, a storage manager 140, one or more dataagents 142, and/or one or more media agents 144 are all implemented onthe same computing device. In other embodiments, one or more data agents142 and one or more media agents 144 are implemented on the samecomputing device, while storage manager 140 is implemented on a separatecomputing device, etc. without limitation.

Exemplary Types of Information Management Operations, Including StorageOperations

In order to protect and leverage stored data, system 100 can beconfigured to perform a variety of information management operations,which may also be referred to in some cases as storage managementoperations or storage operations. These operations can generally include(i) data movement operations, (ii) processing and data manipulationoperations, and (iii) analysis, reporting, and management operations.

Data Movement Operations, Including Secondary Copy Operations

Data movement operations are generally storage operations that involvethe copying or migration of data between different locations in system100. For example, data movement operations can include operations inwhich stored data is copied, migrated, or otherwise transferred from oneor more first storage devices to one or more second storage devices,such as from primary storage device(s) 104 to secondary storagedevice(s) 108, from secondary storage device(s) 108 to differentsecondary storage device(s) 108, from secondary storage devices 108 toprimary storage devices 104, or from primary storage device(s) 104 todifferent primary storage device(s) 104, or in some cases within thesame primary storage device 104 such as within a storage array.

Data movement operations can include by way of example, backupoperations, archive operations, information lifecycle managementoperations such as hierarchical storage management operations,replication operations (e.g., continuous data replication), snapshotoperations, deduplication or single-instancing operations, auxiliarycopy operations, disaster-recovery copy operations, and the like. Aswill be discussed, some of these operations do not necessarily createdistinct copies. Nonetheless, some or all of these operations aregenerally referred to as “secondary copy operations” for simplicity,because they involve secondary copies. Data movement also comprisesrestoring secondary copies.

Backup Operations

A backup operation creates a copy of a version of primary data 112 at aparticular point in time (e.g., one or more files or other data units).Each subsequent backup copy 116 (which is a form of secondary copy 116)may be maintained independently of the first. A backup generallyinvolves maintaining a version of the copied primary data 112 as well asbackup copies 116. Further, a backup copy in some embodiments isgenerally stored in a form that is different from the native format,e.g., a backup format. This contrasts to the version in primary data 112which may instead be stored in a format native to the sourceapplication(s) 110. In various cases, backup copies can be stored in aformat in which the data is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/orotherwise modified from the original native application format. Forexample, a backup copy may be stored in a compressed backup format thatfacilitates efficient long-term storage. Backup copies 116 can haverelatively long retention periods as compared to primary data 112, whichis generally highly changeable. Backup copies 116 may be stored on mediawith slower retrieval times than primary storage device 104. Some backupcopies may have shorter retention periods than some other types ofsecondary copies 116, such as archive copies (described below). Backupsmay be stored at an offsite location.

Backup operations can include full backups, differential backups,incremental backups, “synthetic full” backups, and/or creating a“reference copy.” A full backup (or “standard full backup”) in someembodiments is generally a complete image of the data to be protected.However, because full backup copies can consume a relatively largeamount of storage, it can be useful to use a full backup copy as abaseline and only store changes relative to the full backup copyafterwards.

A differential backup operation (or cumulative incremental backupoperation) tracks and stores changes that occurred since the last fullbackup. Differential backups can grow quickly in size, but can restorerelatively efficiently because a restore can be completed in some casesusing only the full backup copy and the latest differential copy.

An incremental backup operation generally tracks and stores changessince the most recent backup copy of any type, which can greatly reducestorage utilization. In some cases, however, restoring can be lengthycompared to full or differential backups because completing a restoreoperation may involve accessing a full backup in addition to multipleincremental backups.

Synthetic full backups generally consolidate data without directlybacking up data from the client computing device. A synthetic fullbackup is created from the most recent full backup (i.e., standard orsynthetic) and subsequent incremental and/or differential backups. Theresulting synthetic full backup is identical to what would have beencreated had the last backup for the subclient been a standard fullbackup. Unlike standard full, incremental, and differential backups,however, a synthetic full backup does not actually transfer data fromprimary storage to the backup media, because it operates as a backupconsolidator. A synthetic full backup extracts the index data of eachparticipating subclient. Using this index data and the previously backedup user data images, it builds new full backup images (e.g., bitmaps),one for each subclient. The new backup images consolidate the index anduser data stored in the related incremental, differential, and previousfull backups into a synthetic backup file that fully represents thesubclient (e.g., via pointers) but does not comprise all its constituentdata.

Any of the above types of backup operations can be at the volume level,file level, or block level. Volume level backup operations generallyinvolve copying of a data volume (e.g., a logical disk or partition) asa whole. In a file-level backup, information management system 100generally tracks changes to individual files and includes copies offiles in the backup copy. For block-level backups, files are broken intoconstituent blocks, and changes are tracked at the block level. Uponrestore, system 100 reassembles the blocks into files in a transparentfashion. Far less data may actually be transferred and copied tosecondary storage devices 108 during a file-level copy than avolume-level copy. Likewise, a block-level copy may transfer less datathan a file-level copy, resulting in faster execution. However,restoring a relatively higher-granularity copy can result in longerrestore times. For instance, when restoring a block-level copy, theprocess of locating and retrieving constituent blocks can sometimes takelonger than restoring file-level backups.

A reference copy may comprise copy(ies) of selected objects from backedup data, typically to help organize data by keeping contextualinformation from multiple sources together, and/or help retain specificdata for a longer period of time, such as for legal hold needs. Areference copy generally maintains data integrity, and when the data isrestored, it may be viewed in the same format as the source data. Insome embodiments, a reference copy is based on a specialized client,individual subclient and associated information management policies(e.g., storage policy, retention policy, etc.) that are administeredwithin system 100.

Archive Operations

Because backup operations generally involve maintaining a version of thecopied primary data 112 and also maintaining backup copies in secondarystorage device(s) 108, they can consume significant storage capacity. Toreduce storage consumption, an archive operation according to certainembodiments creates an archive copy 116 by both copying and removingsource data. Or, seen another way, archive operations can involve movingsome or all of the source data to the archive destination. Thus, datasatisfying criteria for removal (e.g., data of a threshold age or size)may be removed from source storage. The source data may be primary data112 or a secondary copy 116, depending on the situation. As with backupcopies, archive copies can be stored in a format in which the data iscompressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwise modified from theformat of the original application or source copy. In addition, archivecopies may be retained for relatively long periods of time (e.g., years)and, in some cases are never deleted. In certain embodiments, archivecopies may be made and kept for extended periods in order to meetcompliance regulations.

Archiving can also serve the purpose of freeing up space in primarystorage device(s) 104 and easing the demand on computational resourceson client computing device 102. Similarly, when a secondary copy 116 isarchived, the archive copy can therefore serve the purpose of freeing upspace in the source secondary storage device(s) 108. Examples of dataarchiving operations are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,107,298.

Snapshot Operations

Snapshot operations can provide a relatively lightweight, efficientmechanism for protecting data. From an end-user viewpoint, a snapshotmay be thought of as an “instant” image of primary data 112 at a givenpoint in time, and may include state and/or status information relativeto an application 110 that creates/manages primary data 112. In oneembodiment, a snapshot may generally capture the directory structure ofan object in primary data 112 such as a file or volume or other data setat a particular moment in time and may also preserve file attributes andcontents. A snapshot in some cases is created relatively quickly, e.g.,substantially instantly, using a minimum amount of file space, but maystill function as a conventional file system backup.

A “hardware snapshot” (or “hardware-based snapshot”) operation occurswhere a target storage device (e.g., a primary storage device 104 or asecondary storage device 108) performs the snapshot operation in aself-contained fashion, substantially independently, using hardware,firmware and/or software operating on the storage device itself. Forinstance, the storage device may perform snapshot operations generallywithout intervention or oversight from any of the other components ofthe system 100, e.g., a storage array may generate an “array-created”hardware snapshot and may also manage its storage, integrity,versioning, etc. In this manner, hardware snapshots can off-load othercomponents of system 100 from snapshot processing. An array may receivea request from another component to take a snapshot and then proceed toexecute the “hardware snapshot” operations autonomously, preferablyreporting success to the requesting component.

A “software snapshot” (or “software-based snapshot”) operation, on theother hand, occurs where a component in system 100 (e.g., clientcomputing device 102, etc.) implements a software layer that manages thesnapshot operation via interaction with the target storage device. Forinstance, the component executing the snapshot management software layermay derive a set of pointers and/or data that represents the snapshot.The snapshot management software layer may then transmit the same to thetarget storage device, along with appropriate instructions for writingthe snapshot. One example of a software snapshot product is MicrosoftVolume Snapshot Service (VSS), which is part of the Microsoft Windowsoperating system.

Some types of snapshots do not actually create another physical copy ofall the data as it existed at the particular point in time, but maysimply create pointers that map files and directories to specific memorylocations (e.g., to specific disk blocks) where the data resides as itexisted at the particular point in time. For example, a snapshot copymay include a set of pointers derived from the file system or from anapplication. In some other cases, the snapshot may be created at theblock-level, such that creation of the snapshot occurs without awarenessof the file system. Each pointer points to a respective stored datablock, so that collectively, the set of pointers reflect the storagelocation and state of the data object (e.g., file(s) or volume(s) ordata set(s)) at the point in time when the snapshot copy was created.

An initial snapshot may use only a small amount of disk space needed torecord a mapping or other data structure representing or otherwisetracking the blocks that correspond to the current state of the filesystem. Additional disk space is usually required only when files anddirectories change later on. Furthermore, when files change, typicallyonly the pointers which map to blocks are copied, not the blocksthemselves. For example for “copy-on-write” snapshots, when a blockchanges in primary storage, the block is copied to secondary storage orcached in primary storage before the block is overwritten in primarystorage, and the pointer to that block is changed to reflect the newlocation of that block. The snapshot mapping of file system data mayalso be updated to reflect the changed block(s) at that particular pointin time. In some other cases, a snapshot includes a full physical copyof all or substantially all of the data represented by the snapshot.Further examples of snapshot operations are provided in U.S. Pat. No.7,529,782. A snapshot copy in many cases can be made quickly and withoutsignificantly impacting primary computing resources because largeamounts of data need not be copied or moved. In some embodiments, asnapshot may exist as a virtual file system, parallel to the actual filesystem. Users in some cases gain read-only access to the record of filesand directories of the snapshot. By electing to restore primary data 112from a snapshot taken at a given point in time, users may also returnthe current file system to the state of the file system that existedwhen the snapshot was taken.

Replication Operations

Replication is another type of secondary copy operation. Some types ofsecondary copies 116 periodically capture images of primary data 112 atparticular points in time (e.g., backups, archives, and snapshots).However, it can also be useful for recovery purposes to protect primarydata 112 in a more continuous fashion, by replicating primary data 112substantially as changes occur. In some cases a replication copy can bea mirror copy, for instance, where changes made to primary data 112 aremirrored or substantially immediately copied to another location (e.g.,to secondary storage device(s) 108). By copying each write operation tothe replication copy, two storage systems are kept synchronized orsubstantially synchronized so that they are virtually identical atapproximately the same time. Where entire disk volumes are mirrored,however, mirroring can require significant amount of storage space andutilizes a large amount of processing resources.

According to some embodiments, secondary copy operations are performedon replicated data that represents a recoverable state, or “known goodstate” of a particular application running on the source system. Forinstance, in certain embodiments, known good replication copies may beviewed as copies of primary data 112. This feature allows the system todirectly access, copy, restore, back up, or otherwise manipulate thereplication copies as if they were the “live” primary data 112. This canreduce access time, storage utilization, and impact on sourceapplications 110, among other benefits. Based on known good stateinformation, system 100 can replicate sections of application data thatrepresent a recoverable state rather than rote copying of blocks ofdata. Examples of replication operations (e.g., continuous datareplication) are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,262.

Deduplication/Single-Instancing Operations

Deduplication or single-instance storage is useful to reduce the amountof non-primary data. For instance, some or all of the above-describedsecondary copy operations can involve deduplication in some fashion. Newdata is read, broken down into data portions of a selected granularity(e.g., sub-file level blocks, files, etc.), compared with correspondingportions that are already in secondary storage, and only new/changedportions are stored. Portions that already exist are represented aspointers to the already-stored data. Thus, a deduplicated secondary copy116 may comprise actual data portions copied from primary data 112 andmay further comprise pointers to already-stored data, which is generallymore storage-efficient than a full copy.

In order to streamline the comparison process, system 100 may calculateand/or store signatures (e.g., hashes or cryptographically unique IDs)corresponding to the individual source data portions and compare thesignatures to already-stored data signatures, instead of comparingentire data portions. In some cases, only a single instance of each dataportion is stored, and deduplication operations may therefore bereferred to interchangeably as “single-instancing” operations. Dependingon the implementation, however, deduplication operations can store morethan one instance of certain data portions, yet still significantlyreduce stored-data redundancy. Depending on the embodiment,deduplication portions such as data blocks can be of fixed or variablelength. Using variable length blocks can enhance deduplication byresponding to changes in the data stream, but can involve more complexprocessing. In some cases, system 100 utilizes a technique fordynamically aligning deduplication blocks based on changing content inthe data stream, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,364,652.

System 100 can deduplicate in a variety of manners at a variety oflocations. For instance, in some embodiments, system 100 implements“target-side” deduplication by deduplicating data at the media agent 144after being received from data agent 142. In some such cases, mediaagents 144 are generally configured to manage the deduplication process.For instance, one or more of the media agents 144 maintain acorresponding deduplication database that stores deduplicationinformation (e.g., datablock signatures). Examples of such aconfiguration are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 9,020,900. Instead of or incombination with “target-side” deduplication, “source-side” (or“client-side”) deduplication can also be performed, e.g., to reduce theamount of data to be transmitted by data agent 142 to media agent 144.Storage manager 140 may communicate with other components within system100 via network protocols and cloud service provider APIs to facilitatecloud-based deduplication/single instancing, as exemplified in U.S. Pat.No. 8,954,446. Some other deduplication/single instancing techniques aredescribed in U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2006/0224846 and in U.S. Pat. No.9,098,495.

Information Lifecycle Management and Hierarchical Storage Management

In some embodiments, files and other data over their lifetime move frommore expensive quick-access storage to less expensive slower-accessstorage. Operations associated with moving data through various tiers ofstorage are sometimes referred to as information lifecycle management(ILM) operations.

One type of ILM operation is a hierarchical storage management (HSM)operation, which generally automatically moves data between classes ofstorage devices, such as from high-cost to low-cost storage devices. Forinstance, an HSM operation may involve movement of data from primarystorage devices 104 to secondary storage devices 108, or between tiersof secondary storage devices 108. With each tier, the storage devicesmay be progressively cheaper, have relatively slower access/restoretimes, etc. For example, movement of data between tiers may occur asdata becomes less important over time. In some embodiments, an HSMoperation is similar to archiving in that creating an HSM copy may(though not always) involve deleting some of the source data, e.g.,according to one or more criteria related to the source data. Forexample, an HSM copy may include primary data 112 or a secondary copy116 that exceeds a given size threshold or a given age threshold. Often,and unlike some types of archive copies, HSM data that is removed oraged from the source is replaced by a logical reference pointer or stub.The reference pointer or stub can be stored in the primary storagedevice 104 or other source storage device, such as a secondary storagedevice 108 to replace the deleted source data and to point to orotherwise indicate the new location in (another) secondary storagedevice 108.

For example, files are generally moved between higher and lower coststorage depending on how often the files are accessed. When a userrequests access to HSM data that has been removed or migrated, system100 uses the stub to locate the data and may make recovery of the dataappear transparent, even though the HSM data may be stored at a locationdifferent from other source data. In this manner, the data appears tothe user (e.g., in file system browsing windows and the like) as if itstill resides in the source location (e.g., in a primary storage device104). The stub may include metadata associated with the correspondingdata, so that a file system and/or application can provide someinformation about the data object and/or a limited-functionality version(e.g., a preview) of the data object.

An HSM copy may be stored in a format other than the native applicationformat (e.g., compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwisemodified). In some cases, copies which involve the removal of data fromsource storage and the maintenance of stub or other logical referenceinformation on source storage may be referred to generally as “on-linearchive copies.” On the other hand, copies which involve the removal ofdata from source storage without the maintenance of stub or otherlogical reference information on source storage may be referred to as“off-line archive copies.” Examples of HSM and ILM techniques areprovided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.

Auxiliary Copy Operations

An auxiliary copy is generally a copy of an existing secondary copy 116.For instance, an initial secondary copy 116 may be derived from primarydata 112 or from data residing in secondary storage subsystem 118,whereas an auxiliary copy is generated from the initial secondary copy116. Auxiliary copies provide additional standby copies of data and mayreside on different secondary storage devices 108 than the initialsecondary copies 116. Thus, auxiliary copies can be used for recoverypurposes if initial secondary copies 116 become unavailable. Exemplaryauxiliary copy techniques are described in further detail in U.S. Pat.No. 8,230,195.

Disaster-Recovery Copy Operations

System 100 may also make and retain disaster recovery copies, often assecondary, high-availability disk copies. System 100 may createsecondary copies and store them at disaster recovery locations usingauxiliary copy or replication operations, such as continuous datareplication technologies. Depending on the particular data protectiongoals, disaster recovery locations can be remote from the clientcomputing devices 102 and primary storage devices 104, remote from someor all of the secondary storage devices 108, or both.

Data Manipulation, Including Encryption and Compression

Data manipulation and processing may include encryption and compressionas well as integrity marking and checking, formatting for transmission,formatting for storage, etc. Data may be manipulated “client-side” bydata agent 142 as well as “target-side” by media agent 144 in the courseof creating secondary copy 116, or conversely in the course of restoringdata from secondary to primary.

Encryption Operations

System 100 in some cases is configured to process data (e.g., files orother data objects, primary data 112, secondary copies 116, etc.),according to an appropriate encryption algorithm (e.g., Blowfish,Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Triple Data Encryption Standard(3-DES), etc.) to limit access and provide data security. System 100 insome cases encrypts the data at the client level, such that clientcomputing devices 102 (e.g., data agents 142) encrypt the data prior totransferring it to other components, e.g., before sending the data tomedia agents 144 during a secondary copy operation. In such cases,client computing device 102 may maintain or have access to an encryptionkey or passphrase for decrypting the data upon restore. Encryption canalso occur when media agent 144 creates auxiliary copies or archivecopies. Encryption may be applied in creating a secondary copy 116 of apreviously unencrypted secondary copy 116, without limitation. Infurther embodiments, secondary storage devices 108 can implementbuilt-in, high performance hardware-based encryption.

Compression Operations

Similar to encryption, system 100 may also or alternatively compressdata in the course of generating a secondary copy 116. Compressionencodes information such that fewer bits are needed to represent theinformation as compared to the original representation. Compressiontechniques are well known in the art. Compression operations may applyone or more data compression algorithms. Compression may be applied increating a secondary copy 116 of a previously uncompressed secondarycopy, e.g., when making archive copies or disaster recovery copies. Theuse of compression may result in metadata that specifies the nature ofthe compression, so that data may be uncompressed on restore ifappropriate.

Data Analysis, Reporting, and Management Operations

Data analysis, reporting, and management operations can differ from datamovement operations in that they do not necessarily involve copying,migration or other transfer of data between different locations in thesystem. For instance, data analysis operations may involve processing(e.g., offline processing) or modification of already stored primarydata 112 and/or secondary copies 116. However, in some embodiments dataanalysis operations are performed in conjunction with data movementoperations. Some data analysis operations include content indexingoperations and classification operations which can be useful inleveraging data under management to enhance search and other features.

Classification Operations/Content Indexing

In some embodiments, information management system 100 analyzes andindexes characteristics, content, and metadata associated with primarydata 112 (“online content indexing”) and/or secondary copies 116(“off-line content indexing”). Content indexing can identify files orother data objects based on content (e.g., user-defined keywords orphrases, other keywords/phrases that are not defined by a user, etc.),and/or metadata (e.g., email metadata such as “to,” “from,” “cc,” “bcc,”attachment name, received time, etc.). Content indexes may be searchedand search results may be restored.

System 100 generally organizes and catalogues the results into a contentindex, which may be stored within media agent database 152, for example.The content index can also include the storage locations of or pointerreferences to indexed data in primary data 112 and/or secondary copies116. Results may also be stored elsewhere in system 100 (e.g., inprimary storage device 104 or in secondary storage device 108). Suchcontent index data provides storage manager 140 or other components withan efficient mechanism for locating primary data 112 and/or secondarycopies 116 of data objects that match particular criteria, thus greatlyincreasing the search speed capability of system 100. For instance,search criteria can be specified by a user through user interface 158 ofstorage manager 140. Moreover, when system 100 analyzes data and/ormetadata in secondary copies 116 to create an “off-line content index,”this operation has no significant impact on the performance of clientcomputing devices 102 and thus does not take a toll on the productionenvironment. Examples of content indexing techniques are provided inU.S. Pat. No. 8,170,995.

One or more components, such as a content index engine, can beconfigured to scan data and/or associated metadata for classificationpurposes to populate a database (or other data structure) ofinformation, which can be referred to as a “data classificationdatabase” or a “metabase.” Depending on the embodiment, the dataclassification database(s) can be organized in a variety of differentways, including centralization, logical sub-divisions, and/or physicalsub-divisions. For instance, one or more data classification databasesmay be associated with different subsystems or tiers within system 100.As an example, there may be a first metabase associated with primarystorage subsystem 117 and a second metabase associated with secondarystorage subsystem 118. In other cases, metabase(s) may be associatedwith individual components, e.g., client computing devices 102 and/ormedia agents 144. In some embodiments, a data classification databasemay reside as one or more data structures within management database146, may be otherwise associated with storage manager 140, and/or mayreside as a separate component. In some cases, metabase(s) may beincluded in separate database(s) and/or on separate storage device(s)from primary data 112 and/or secondary copies 116, such that operationsrelated to the metabase(s) do not significantly impact performance onother components of system 100. In other cases, metabase(s) may bestored along with primary data 112 and/or secondary copies 116. Files orother data objects can be associated with identifiers (e.g., tagentries, etc.) to facilitate searches of stored data objects. Among anumber of other benefits, the metabase can also allow efficient,automatic identification of files or other data objects to associatewith secondary copy or other information management operations. Forinstance, a metabase can dramatically improve the speed with whichsystem 100 can search through and identify data as compared to otherapproaches that involve scanning an entire file system. Examples ofmetabases and data classification operations are provided in U.S. Pat.Nos. 7,734,669 and 7,747,579.

Management and Reporting Operations

Certain embodiments leverage the integrated ubiquitous nature of system100 to provide useful system-wide management and reporting. Operationsmanagement can generally include monitoring and managing the health andperformance of system 100 by, without limitation, performing errortracking, generating granular storage/performance metrics (e.g., jobsuccess/failure information, deduplication efficiency, etc.), generatingstorage modeling and costing information, and the like. As an example,storage manager 140 or another component in system 100 may analyzetraffic patterns and suggest and/or automatically route data to minimizecongestion. In some embodiments, the system can generate predictionsrelating to storage operations or storage operation information. Suchpredictions, which may be based on a trending analysis, may predictvarious network operations or resource usage, such as network trafficlevels, storage media use, use of bandwidth of communication links, useof media agent components, etc. Further examples of traffic analysis,trend analysis, prediction generation, and the like are described inU.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.

In some configurations having a hierarchy of storage operation cells, amaster storage manager 140 may track the status of subordinate cells,such as the status of jobs, system components, system resources, andother items, by communicating with storage managers 140 (or othercomponents) in the respective storage operation cells. Moreover, themaster storage manager 140 may also track status by receiving periodicstatus updates from the storage managers 140 (or other components) inthe respective cells regarding jobs, system components, systemresources, and other items. In some embodiments, a master storagemanager 140 may store status information and other information regardingits associated storage operation cells and other system information inits management database 146 and/or index 150 (or in another location).The master storage manager 140 or other component may also determinewhether certain storage-related or other criteria are satisfied, and mayperform an action or trigger event (e.g., data migration) in response tothe criteria being satisfied, such as where a storage threshold is metfor a particular volume, or where inadequate protection exists forcertain data. For instance, data from one or more storage operationcells is used to dynamically and automatically mitigate recognizedrisks, and/or to advise users of risks or suggest actions to mitigatethese risks. For example, an information management policy may specifycertain requirements (e.g., that a storage device should maintain acertain amount of free space, that secondary copies should occur at aparticular interval, that data should be aged and migrated to otherstorage after a particular period, that data on a secondary volumeshould always have a certain level of availability and be restorablewithin a given time period, that data on a secondary volume may bemirrored or otherwise migrated to a specified number of other volumes,etc.). If a risk condition or other criterion is triggered, the systemmay notify the user of these conditions and may suggest (orautomatically implement) a mitigation action to address the risk. Forexample, the system may indicate that data from a primary copy 112should be migrated to a secondary storage device 108 to free up space onprimary storage device 104. Examples of the use of risk factors andother triggering criteria are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.

In some embodiments, system 100 may also determine whether a metric orother indication satisfies particular storage criteria sufficient toperform an action. For example, a storage policy or other definitionmight indicate that a storage manager 140 should initiate a particularaction if a storage metric or other indication drops below or otherwisefails to satisfy specified criteria such as a threshold of dataprotection. In some embodiments, risk factors may be quantified intocertain measurable service or risk levels. For example, certainapplications and associated data may be considered to be more importantrelative to other data and services. Financial compliance data, forexample, may be of greater importance than marketing materials, etc.Network administrators may assign priority values or “weights” tocertain data and/or applications corresponding to the relativeimportance. The level of compliance of secondary copy operationsspecified for these applications may also be assigned a certain value.Thus, the health, impact, and overall importance of a service may bedetermined, such as by measuring the compliance value and calculatingthe product of the priority value and the compliance value to determinethe “service level” and comparing it to certain operational thresholdsto determine whether it is acceptable. Further examples of the servicelevel determination are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.

System 100 may additionally calculate data costing and data availabilityassociated with information management operation cells. For instance,data received from a cell may be used in conjunction withhardware-related information and other information about system elementsto determine the cost of storage and/or the availability of particulardata. Exemplary information generated could include how fast aparticular department is using up available storage space, how long datawould take to recover over a particular pathway from a particularsecondary storage device, costs over time, etc. Moreover, in someembodiments, such information may be used to determine or predict theoverall cost associated with the storage of certain information. Thecost associated with hosting a certain application may be based, atleast in part, on the type of media on which the data resides, forexample. Storage devices may be assigned to a particular costcategories, for example. Further examples of costing techniques aredescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.

Any of the above types of information (e.g., information related totrending, predictions, job, cell or component status, risk, servicelevel, costing, etc.) can generally be provided to users via userinterface 158 in a single integrated view or console (not shown). Reporttypes may include: scheduling, event management, media management anddata aging. Available reports may also include backup history, dataaging history, auxiliary copy history, job history, library and drive,media in library, restore history, and storage policy, etc., withoutlimitation. Such reports may be specified and created at a certain pointin time as a system analysis, forecasting, or provisioning tool.Integrated reports may also be generated that illustrate storage andperformance metrics, risks and storage costing information. Moreover,users may create their own reports based on specific needs. Userinterface 158 can include an option to graphically depict the variouscomponents in the system using appropriate icons. As one example, userinterface 158 may provide a graphical depiction of primary storagedevices 104, secondary storage devices 108, data agents 142 and/or mediaagents 144, and their relationship to one another in system 100.

In general, the operations management functionality of system 100 canfacilitate planning and decision-making. For example, in someembodiments, a user may view the status of some or all jobs as well asthe status of each component of information management system 100. Usersmay then plan and make decisions based on this data. For instance, auser may view high-level information regarding secondary copy operationsfor system 100, such as job status, component status, resource status(e.g., communication pathways, etc.), and other information. The usermay also drill down or use other means to obtain more detailedinformation regarding a particular component, job, or the like. Furtherexamples are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453.

System 100 can also be configured to perform system-wide e-discoveryoperations in some embodiments. In general, e-discovery operationsprovide a unified collection and search capability for data in thesystem, such as data stored in secondary storage devices 108 (e.g.,backups, archives, or other secondary copies 116). For example, system100 may construct and maintain a virtual repository for data stored insystem 100 that is integrated across source applications 110, differentstorage device types, etc. According to some embodiments, e-discoveryutilizes other techniques described herein, such as data classificationand/or content indexing.

Information Management Policies

An information management policy 148 can include a data structure orother information source that specifies a set of parameters (e.g.,criteria and rules) associated with secondary copy and/or otherinformation management operations.

One type of information management policy 148 is a “storage policy.”According to certain embodiments, a storage policy generally comprises adata structure or other information source that defines (or includesinformation sufficient to determine) a set of preferences or othercriteria for performing information management operations. Storagepolicies can include one or more of the following: (1) what data will beassociated with the storage policy, e.g., subclient; (2) a destinationto which the data will be stored; (3) datapath information specifyinghow the data will be communicated to the destination; (4) the type ofsecondary copy operation to be performed; and (5) retention informationspecifying how long the data will be retained at the destination (see,e.g., FIG. 1E). Data associated with a storage policy can be logicallyorganized into subclients, which may represent primary data 112 and/orsecondary copies 116. A subclient may represent static or dynamicassociations of portions of a data volume. Subclients may representmutually exclusive portions. Thus, in certain embodiments, a portion ofdata may be given a label and the association is stored as a staticentity in an index, database or other storage location. Subclients mayalso be used as an effective administrative scheme of organizing dataaccording to data type, department within the enterprise, storagepreferences, or the like. Depending on the configuration, subclients cancorrespond to files, folders, virtual machines, databases, etc. In oneexemplary scenario, an administrator may find it preferable to separatee-mail data from financial data using two different subclients.

A storage policy can define where data is stored by specifying a targetor destination storage device (or group of storage devices). Forinstance, where the secondary storage device 108 includes a group ofdisk libraries, the storage policy may specify a particular disk libraryfor storing the subclients associated with the policy. As anotherexample, where the secondary storage devices 108 include one or moretape libraries, the storage policy may specify a particular tape libraryfor storing the subclients associated with the storage policy, and mayalso specify a drive pool and a tape pool defining a group of tapedrives and a group of tapes, respectively, for use in storing thesubclient data. While information in the storage policy can bestatically assigned in some cases, some or all of the information in thestorage policy can also be dynamically determined based on criteria setforth in the storage policy. For instance, based on such criteria, aparticular destination storage device(s) or other parameter of thestorage policy may be determined based on characteristics associatedwith the data involved in a particular secondary copy operation, deviceavailability (e.g., availability of a secondary storage device 108 or amedia agent 144), network status and conditions (e.g., identifiedbottlenecks), user credentials, and the like.

Datapath information can also be included in the storage policy. Forinstance, the storage policy may specify network pathways and componentsto utilize when moving the data to the destination storage device(s). Insome embodiments, the storage policy specifies one or more media agents144 for conveying data associated with the storage policy between thesource and destination. A storage policy can also specify the type(s) ofassociated operations, such as backup, archive, snapshot, auxiliarycopy, or the like. Furthermore, retention parameters can specify howlong the resulting secondary copies 116 will be kept (e.g., a number ofdays, months, years, etc.), perhaps depending on organizational needsand/or compliance criteria.

When adding a new client computing device 102, administrators canmanually configure information management policies 148 and/or othersettings, e.g., via user interface 158. However, this can be an involvedprocess resulting in delays, and it may be desirable to begin dataprotection operations quickly, without awaiting human intervention.Thus, in some embodiments, system 100 automatically applies a defaultconfiguration to client computing device 102. As one example, when oneor more data agent(s) 142 are installed on a client computing device102, the installation script may register the client computing device102 with storage manager 140, which in turn applies the defaultconfiguration to the new client computing device 102. In this manner,data protection operations can begin substantially immediately. Thedefault configuration can include a default storage policy, for example,and can specify any appropriate information sufficient to begin dataprotection operations. This can include a type of data protectionoperation, scheduling information, a target secondary storage device108, data path information (e.g., a particular media agent 144), and thelike.

Another type of information management policy 148 is a “schedulingpolicy,” which specifies when and how often to perform operations.Scheduling parameters may specify with what frequency (e.g., hourly,weekly, daily, event-based, etc.) or under what triggering conditionssecondary copy or other information management operations are to takeplace. Scheduling policies in some cases are associated with particularcomponents, such as a subclient, client computing device 102, and thelike.

Another type of information management policy 148 is an “audit policy”(or “security policy”), which comprises preferences, rules and/orcriteria that protect sensitive data in system 100. For example, anaudit policy may define “sensitive objects” which are files or dataobjects that contain particular keywords (e.g., “confidential,” or“privileged”) and/or are associated with particular keywords (e.g., inmetadata) or particular flags (e.g., in metadata identifying a documentor email as personal, confidential, etc.). An audit policy may furtherspecify rules for handling sensitive objects. As an example, an auditpolicy may require that a reviewer approve the transfer of any sensitiveobjects to a cloud storage site, and that if approval is denied for aparticular sensitive object, the sensitive object should be transferredto a local primary storage device 104 instead. To facilitate thisapproval, the audit policy may further specify how a secondary storagecomputing device 106 or other system component should notify a reviewerthat a sensitive object is slated for transfer.

Another type of information management policy 148 is a “provisioningpolicy,” which can include preferences, priorities, rules, and/orcriteria that specify how client computing devices 102 (or groupsthereof) may utilize system resources, such as available storage oncloud storage and/or network bandwidth. A provisioning policy specifies,for example, data quotas for particular client computing devices 102(e.g., a number of gigabytes that can be stored monthly, quarterly orannually). Storage manager 140 or other components may enforce theprovisioning policy. For instance, media agents 144 may enforce thepolicy when transferring data to secondary storage devices 108. If aclient computing device 102 exceeds a quota, a budget for the clientcomputing device 102 (or associated department) may be adjustedaccordingly or an alert may trigger.

While the above types of information management policies 148 aredescribed as separate policies, one or more of these can be generallycombined into a single information management policy 148. For instance,a storage policy may also include or otherwise be associated with one ormore scheduling, audit, or provisioning policies or operationalparameters thereof. Moreover, while storage policies are typicallyassociated with moving and storing data, other policies may beassociated with other types of information management operations. Thefollowing is a non-exhaustive list of items that information managementpolicies 148 may specify:

-   -   schedules or other timing information, e.g., specifying when        and/or how often to perform information management operations;    -   the type of secondary copy 116 and/or copy format (e.g.,        snapshot, backup, archive, HSM, etc.);    -   a location or a class or quality of storage for storing        secondary copies 116 (e.g., one or more particular secondary        storage devices 108);    -   preferences regarding whether and how to encrypt, compress,        deduplicate, or otherwise modify or transform secondary copies        116;    -   which system components and/or network pathways (e.g., preferred        media agents 144) should be used to perform secondary storage        operations;    -   resource allocation among different computing devices or other        system components used in performing information management        operations (e.g., bandwidth allocation, available storage        capacity, etc.);    -   whether and how to synchronize or otherwise distribute files or        other data objects across multiple computing devices or hosted        services; and    -   retention information specifying the length of time primary data        112 and/or secondary copies 116 should be retained, e.g., in a        particular class or tier of storage devices, or within the        system 100.

Information management policies 148 can additionally specify or dependon historical or current criteria that may be used to determine whichrules to apply to a particular data object, system component, orinformation management operation, such as:

-   -   frequency with which primary data 112 or a secondary copy 116 of        a data object or metadata has been or is predicted to be used,        accessed, or modified;    -   time-related factors (e.g., aging information such as time since        the creation or modification of a data object);    -   deduplication information (e.g., hashes, data blocks,        deduplication block size, deduplication efficiency or other        metrics);    -   an estimated or historic usage or cost associated with different        components (e.g., with secondary storage devices 108);    -   the identity of users, applications 110, client computing        devices 102 and/or other computing devices that created,        accessed, modified, or otherwise utilized primary data 112 or        secondary copies 116;    -   a relative sensitivity (e.g., confidentiality, importance) of a        data object, e.g., as determined by its content and/or metadata;    -   the current or historical storage capacity of various storage        devices;    -   the current or historical network capacity of network pathways        connecting various components within the storage operation cell;    -   access control lists or other security information; and    -   the content of a particular data object (e.g., its textual        content) or of metadata associated with the data object.

Exemplary Storage Policy and Secondary Copy Operations

FIG. 1E includes a data flow diagram depicting performance of secondarycopy operations by an embodiment of information management system 100,according to an exemplary storage policy 148A. System 100 includes astorage manager 140, a client computing device 102 having a file systemdata agent 142A and an email data agent 142B operating thereon, aprimary storage device 104, two media agents 144A, 144B, and twosecondary storage devices 108: a disk library 108A and a tape library108B. As shown, primary storage device 104 includes primary data 112A,which is associated with a logical grouping of data associated with afile system (“file system subclient”), and primary data 112B, which is alogical grouping of data associated with email (“email subclient”). Thetechniques described with respect to FIG. 1E can be utilized inconjunction with data that is otherwise organized as well.

As indicated by the dashed box, the second media agent 144B and tapelibrary 108B are “off-site,” and may be remotely located from the othercomponents in system 100 (e.g., in a different city, office building,etc.). Indeed, “off-site” may refer to a magnetic tape located in remotestorage, which must be manually retrieved and loaded into a tape driveto be read. In this manner, information stored on the tape library 108Bmay provide protection in the event of a disaster or other failure atthe main site(s) where data is stored.

The file system subclient 112A in certain embodiments generallycomprises information generated by the file system and/or operatingsystem of client computing device 102, and can include, for example,file system data (e.g., regular files, file tables, mount points, etc.),operating system data (e.g., registries, event logs, etc.), and thelike. The e-mail subclient 112B can include data generated by an e-mailapplication operating on client computing device 102, e.g., mailboxinformation, folder information, emails, attachments, associateddatabase information, and the like. As described above, the subclientscan be logical containers, and the data included in the correspondingprimary data 112A and 112B may or may not be stored contiguously.

The exemplary storage policy 148A includes backup copy preferences orrule set 160, disaster recovery copy preferences or rule set 162, andcompliance copy preferences or rule set 164. Backup copy rule set 160specifies that it is associated with file system subclient 166 and emailsubclient 168. Each of subclients 166 and 168 are associated with theparticular client computing device 102. Backup copy rule set 160 furtherspecifies that the backup operation will be written to disk library 108Aand designates a particular media agent 144A to convey the data to disklibrary 108A. Finally, backup copy rule set 160 specifies that backupcopies created according to rule set 160 are scheduled to be generatedhourly and are to be retained for 30 days. In some other embodiments,scheduling information is not included in storage policy 148A and isinstead specified by a separate scheduling policy.

Disaster recovery copy rule set 162 is associated with the same twosubclients 166 and 168. However, disaster recovery copy rule set 162 isassociated with tape library 108B, unlike backup copy rule set 160.Moreover, disaster recovery copy rule set 162 specifies that a differentmedia agent, namely 144B, will convey data to tape library 108B.Disaster recovery copies created according to rule set 162 will beretained for 60 days and will be generated daily. Disaster recoverycopies generated according to disaster recovery copy rule set 162 canprovide protection in the event of a disaster or other catastrophic dataloss that would affect the backup copy 116A maintained on disk library108A.

Compliance copy rule set 164 is only associated with the email subclient168, and not the file system subclient 166. Compliance copies generatedaccording to compliance copy rule set 164 will therefore not includeprimary data 112A from the file system subclient 166. For instance, theorganization may be under an obligation to store and maintain copies ofemail data for a particular period of time (e.g., 10 years) to complywith state or federal regulations, while similar regulations do notapply to file system data. Compliance copy rule set 164 is associatedwith the same tape library 108B and media agent 144B as disasterrecovery copy rule set 162, although a different storage device or mediaagent could be used in other embodiments. Finally, compliance copy ruleset 164 specifies that the copies it governs will be generated quarterlyand retained for 10 years.

Secondary Copy Jobs

A logical grouping of secondary copy operations governed by a rule setand being initiated at a point in time may be referred to as a“secondary copy job” (and sometimes may be called a “backup job,” eventhough it is not necessarily limited to creating only backup copies).Secondary copy jobs may be initiated on demand as well. Steps 1-9 belowillustrate three secondary copy jobs based on storage policy 148A.

Referring to FIG. 1E, at step 1, storage manager 140 initiates a backupjob according to the backup copy rule set 160, which logically comprisesall the secondary copy operations necessary to effectuate rules 160 instorage policy 148A every hour, including steps 1-4 occurring hourly.For instance, a scheduling service running on storage manager 140accesses backup copy rule set 160 or a separate scheduling policyassociated with client computing device 102 and initiates a backup jobon an hourly basis. Thus, at the scheduled time, storage manager 140sends instructions to client computing device 102 (i.e., to both dataagent 142A and data agent 142B) to begin the backup job.

At step 2, file system data agent 142A and email data agent 142B onclient computing device 102 respond to instructions from storage manager140 by accessing and processing the respective subclient primary data112A and 112B involved in the backup copy operation, which can be foundin primary storage device 104. Because the secondary copy operation is abackup copy operation, the data agent(s) 142A, 142B may format the datainto a backup format or otherwise process the data suitable for a backupcopy.

At step 3, client computing device 102 communicates the processed filesystem data (e.g., using file system data agent 142A) and the processedemail data (e.g., using email data agent 142B) to the first media agent144A according to backup copy rule set 160, as directed by storagemanager 140. Storage manager 140 may further keep a record in managementdatabase 146 of the association between media agent 144A and one or moreof: client computing device 102, file system subclient 112A, file systemdata agent 142A, email subclient 112B, email data agent 142B, and/orbackup copy 116A.

The target media agent 144A receives the data-agent-processed data fromclient computing device 102, and at step 4 generates and conveys backupcopy 116A to disk library 108A to be stored as backup copy 116A, againat the direction of storage manager 140 and according to backup copyrule set 160. Media agent 144A can also update its index 153 to includedata and/or metadata related to backup copy 116A, such as informationindicating where the backup copy 116A resides on disk library 108A,where the email copy resides, where the file system copy resides, dataand metadata for cache retrieval, etc. Storage manager 140 may similarlyupdate its index 150 to include information relating to the secondarycopy operation, such as information relating to the type of operation, aphysical location associated with one or more copies created by theoperation, the time the operation was performed, status informationrelating to the operation, the components involved in the operation, andthe like. In some cases, storage manager 140 may update its index 150 toinclude some or all of the information stored in index 153 of mediaagent 144A. At this point, the backup job may be considered complete.After the 30-day retention period expires, storage manager 140 instructsmedia agent 144A to delete backup copy 116A from disk library 108A andindexes 150 and/or 153 are updated accordingly.

At step 5, storage manager 140 initiates another backup job for adisaster recovery copy according to the disaster recovery rule set 162.Illustratively this includes steps 5-7 occurring daily for creatingdisaster recovery copy 116B. Illustratively, and by way of illustratingthe scalable aspects and off-loading principles embedded in system 100,disaster recovery copy 116B is based on backup copy 116A and not onprimary data 112A and 112B.

At step 6, illustratively based on instructions received from storagemanager 140 at step 5, the specified media agent 1446 retrieves the mostrecent backup copy 116A from disk library 108A.

At step 7, again at the direction of storage manager 140 and asspecified in disaster recovery copy rule set 162, media agent 144B usesthe retrieved data to create a disaster recovery copy 1166 and store itto tape library 1086. In some cases, disaster recovery copy 116B is adirect, mirror copy of backup copy 116A, and remains in the backupformat. In other embodiments, disaster recovery copy 116B may be furthercompressed or encrypted, or may be generated in some other manner, suchas by using primary data 112A and 1126 from primary storage device 104as sources. The disaster recovery copy operation is initiated once a dayand disaster recovery copies 1166 are deleted after 60 days; indexes 153and/or 150 are updated accordingly when/after each informationmanagement operation is executed and/or completed. The present backupjob may be considered completed.

At step 8, storage manager 140 initiates another backup job according tocompliance rule set 164, which performs steps 8-9 quarterly to createcompliance copy 116C. For instance, storage manager 140 instructs mediaagent 144B to create compliance copy 116C on tape library 1086, asspecified in the compliance copy rule set 164.

At step 9 in the example, compliance copy 116C is generated usingdisaster recovery copy 1166 as the source. This is efficient, becausedisaster recovery copy resides on the same secondary storage device andthus no network resources are required to move the data. In otherembodiments, compliance copy 116C is instead generated using primarydata 112B corresponding to the email subclient or using backup copy 116Afrom disk library 108A as source data. As specified in the illustratedexample, compliance copies 116C are created quarterly, and are deletedafter ten years, and indexes 153 and/or 150 are kept up-to-dateaccordingly.

Exemplary Applications of Storage Policies—Information GovernancePolicies and Classification

Again referring to FIG. 1E, storage manager 140 may permit a user tospecify aspects of storage policy 148A. For example, the storage policycan be modified to include information governance policies to define howdata should be managed in order to comply with a certain regulation orbusiness objective. The various policies may be stored, for example, inmanagement database 146. An information governance policy may align withone or more compliance tasks that are imposed by regulations or businessrequirements. Examples of information governance policies might includea Sarbanes-Oxley policy, a HIPAA policy, an electronic discovery(e-discovery) policy, and so on.

Information governance policies allow administrators to obtain differentperspectives on an organization's online and offline data, without theneed for a dedicated data silo created solely for each differentviewpoint. As described previously, the data storage systems hereinbuild an index that reflects the contents of a distributed data set thatspans numerous clients and storage devices, including both primary dataand secondary copies, and online and offline copies. An organization mayapply multiple information governance policies in a top-down manner overthat unified data set and indexing schema in order to view andmanipulate the data set through different lenses, each of which isadapted to a particular compliance or business goal. Thus, for example,by applying an e-discovery policy and a Sarbanes-Oxley policy, twodifferent groups of users in an organization can conduct two verydifferent analyses of the same underlying physical set of data/copies,which may be distributed throughout the information management system.

An information governance policy may comprise a classification policy,which defines a taxonomy of classification terms or tags relevant to acompliance task and/or business objective. A classification policy mayalso associate a defined tag with a classification rule. Aclassification rule defines a particular combination of criteria, suchas users who have created, accessed or modified a document or dataobject; file or application types; content or metadata keywords; clientsor storage locations; dates of data creation and/or access; reviewstatus or other status within a workflow (e.g., reviewed orun-reviewed); modification times or types of modifications; and/or anyother data attributes in any combination, without limitation. Aclassification rule may also be defined using other classification tagsin the taxonomy. The various criteria used to define a classificationrule may be combined in any suitable fashion, for example, via Booleanoperators, to define a complex classification rule. As an example, ane-discovery classification policy might define a classification tag“privileged” that is associated with documents or data objects that (1)were created or modified by legal department staff, or (2) were sent toor received from outside counsel via email, or (3) contain one of thefollowing keywords: “privileged” or “attorney” or “counsel,” or otherlike terms. Accordingly, all these documents or data objects will beclassified as “privileged.”

One specific type of classification tag, which may be added to an indexat the time of indexing, is an “entity tag.” An entity tag may be, forexample, any content that matches a defined data mask format. Examplesof entity tags might include, e.g., social security numbers (e.g., anynumerical content matching the formatting mask XXX-XX-XXXX), credit cardnumbers (e.g., content having a 13-16 digit string of numbers), SKUnumbers, product numbers, etc. A user may define a classification policyby indicating criteria, parameters or descriptors of the policy via agraphical user interface, such as a form or page with fields to befilled in, pull-down menus or entries allowing one or more of severaloptions to be selected, buttons, sliders, hypertext links or other knownuser interface tools for receiving user input, etc. For example, a usermay define certain entity tags, such as a particular product number orproject ID. In some implementations, the classification policy can beimplemented using cloud-based techniques. For example, the storagedevices may be cloud storage devices, and the storage manager 140 mayexecute cloud service provider API over a network to classify datastored on cloud storage devices.

Restore Operations from Secondary Copies

While not shown in FIG. 1E, at some later point in time, a restoreoperation can be initiated involving one or more of secondary copies116A, 116B, and 116C. A restore operation logically takes a selectedsecondary copy 116, reverses the effects of the secondary copy operationthat created it, and stores the restored data to primary storage where aclient computing device 102 may properly access it as primary data. Amedia agent 144 and an appropriate data agent 142 (e.g., executing onthe client computing device 102) perform the tasks needed to complete arestore operation. For example, data that was encrypted, compressed,and/or deduplicated in the creation of secondary copy 116 will becorrespondingly rehydrated (reversing deduplication), uncompressed, andunencrypted into a format appropriate to primary data. Metadata storedwithin or associated with the secondary copy 116 may be used during therestore operation. In general, restored data should be indistinguishablefrom other primary data 112. Preferably, the restored data has fullyregained the native format that may make it immediately usable byapplication 110.

As one example, a user may manually initiate a restore of backup copy116A, e.g., by interacting with user interface 158 of storage manager140 or with a web-based console with access to system 100. Storagemanager 140 may accesses data in its index 150 and/or managementdatabase 146 (and/or the respective storage policy 148A) associated withthe selected backup copy 116A to identify the appropriate media agent144A and/or secondary storage device 108A where the secondary copyresides. The user may be presented with a representation (e.g., stub,thumbnail, listing, etc.) and metadata about the selected secondarycopy, in order to determine whether this is the appropriate copy to berestored, e.g., date that the original primary data was created. Storagemanager 140 will then instruct media agent 144A and an appropriate dataagent 142 on the target client computing device 102 to restore secondarycopy 116A to primary storage device 104. A media agent may be selectedfor use in the restore operation based on a load balancing algorithm, anavailability based algorithm, or other criteria. The selected mediaagent, e.g., 144A, retrieves secondary copy 116A from disk library 108A.For instance, media agent 144A may access its index 153 to identify alocation of backup copy 116A on disk library 108A, or may accesslocation information residing on disk library 108A itself.

In some cases a backup copy 116A that was recently created or accessed,may be cached to speed up the restore operation. In such a case, mediaagent 144A accesses a cached version of backup copy 116A residing inindex 153, without having to access disk library 108A for some or all ofthe data. Once it has retrieved backup copy 116A, the media agent 144Acommunicates the data to the requesting client computing device 102.Upon receipt, file system data agent 142A and email data agent 142B mayunpack (e.g., restore from a backup format to the native applicationformat) the data in backup copy 116A and restore the unpackaged data toprimary storage device 104. In general, secondary copies 116 may berestored to the same volume or folder in primary storage device 104 fromwhich the secondary copy was derived; to another storage location orclient computing device 102; to shared storage, etc. In some cases, thedata may be restored so that it may be used by an application 110 of adifferent version/vintage from the application that created the originalprimary data 112.

Exemplary Secondary Copy Formatting

The formatting and structure of secondary copies 116 can vary dependingon the embodiment. In some cases, secondary copies 116 are formatted asa series of logical data units or “chunks” (e.g., 512 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB, 4GB, or 8 GB chunks). This can facilitate efficient communication andwriting to secondary storage devices 108, e.g., according to resourceavailability. For example, a single secondary copy 116 may be written ona chunk-by-chunk basis to one or more secondary storage devices 108. Insome cases, users can select different chunk sizes, e.g., to improvethroughput to tape storage devices. Generally, each chunk can include aheader and a payload. The payload can include files (or other dataunits) or subsets thereof included in the chunk, whereas the chunkheader generally includes metadata relating to the chunk, some or all ofwhich may be derived from the payload. For example, during a secondarycopy operation, media agent 144, storage manager 140, or other componentmay divide files into chunks and generate headers for each chunk byprocessing the files. Headers can include a variety of information suchas file and/or volume identifier(s), offset(s), and/or other informationassociated with the payload data items, a chunk sequence number, etc.Importantly, in addition to being stored with secondary copy 116 onsecondary storage device 108, chunk headers can also be stored to index153 of the associated media agent(s) 144 and/or to index 150 associatedwith storage manager 140. This can be useful for providing fasterprocessing of secondary copies 116 during browsing, restores, or otheroperations. In some cases, once a chunk is successfully transferred to asecondary storage device 108, the secondary storage device 108 returnsan indication of receipt, e.g., to media agent 144 and/or storagemanager 140, which may update their respective indexes 153, 150accordingly. During restore, chunks may be processed (e.g., by mediaagent 144) according to the information in the chunk header toreassemble the files.

Data can also be communicated within system 100 in data channels thatconnect client computing devices 102 to secondary storage devices 108.These data channels can be referred to as “data streams,” and multipledata streams can be employed to parallelize an information managementoperation, improving data transfer rate, among other advantages. Exampledata formatting techniques including techniques involving datastreaming, chunking, and the use of other data structures in creatingsecondary copies are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,315,923, 8,156,086,and 8,578,120.

FIGS. 1F and 1G are diagrams of example data streams 170 and 171,respectively, which may be employed for performing informationmanagement operations. Referring to FIG. 1F, data agent 142 forms datastream 170 from source data associated with a client computing device102 (e.g., primary data 112). Data stream 170 is composed of multiplepairs of stream header 172 and stream data (or stream payload) 174. Datastreams 170 and 171 shown in the illustrated example are for asingle-instanced storage operation, and a stream payload 174 thereforemay include both single-instance (SI) data and/or non-SI data. A streamheader 172 includes metadata about the stream payload 174. This metadatamay include, for example, a length of the stream payload 174, anindication of whether the stream payload 174 is encrypted, an indicationof whether the stream payload 174 is compressed, an archive fileidentifier (ID), an indication of whether the stream payload 174 issingle instanceable, and an indication of whether the stream payload 174is a start of a block of data.

Referring to FIG. 1G, data stream 171 has the stream header 172 andstream payload 174 aligned into multiple data blocks. In this example,the data blocks are of size 64 KB. The first two stream header 172 andstream payload 174 pairs comprise a first data block of size 64 KB. Thefirst stream header 172 indicates that the length of the succeedingstream payload 174 is 63 KB and that it is the start of a data block.The next stream header 172 indicates that the succeeding stream payload174 has a length of 1 KB and that it is not the start of a new datablock. Immediately following stream payload 174 is a pair comprising anidentifier header 176 and identifier data 178. The identifier header 176includes an indication that the succeeding identifier data 178 includesthe identifier for the immediately previous data block. The identifierdata 178 includes the identifier that the data agent 142 generated forthe data block. The data stream 171 also includes other stream header172 and stream payload 174 pairs, which may be for SI data and/or non-SIdata.

FIG. 1H is a diagram illustrating data structures 180 that may be usedto store blocks of SI data and non-SI data on a storage device (e.g.,secondary storage device 108). According to certain embodiments, datastructures 180 do not form part of a native file system of the storagedevice. Data structures 180 include one or more volume folders 182, oneor more chunk folders 184/185 within the volume folder 182, and multiplefiles within chunk folder 184. Each chunk folder 184/185 includes ametadata file 186/187, a metadata index file 188/189, one or morecontainer files 190/191/193, and a container index file 192/194.Metadata file 186/187 stores non-SI data blocks as well as links to SIdata blocks stored in container files. Metadata index file 188/189stores an index to the data in the metadata file 186/187. Containerfiles 190/191/193 store SI data blocks. Container index file 192/194stores an index to container files 190/191/193. Among other things,container index file 192/194 stores an indication of whether acorresponding block in a container file 190/191/193 is referred to by alink in a metadata file 186/187. For example, data block B2 in thecontainer file 190 is referred to by a link in metadata file 187 inchunk folder 185. Accordingly, the corresponding index entry incontainer index file 192 indicates that data block B2 in container file190 is referred to. As another example, data block B1 in container file191 is referred to by a link in metadata file 187, and so thecorresponding index entry in container index file 192 indicates thatthis data block is referred to.

As an example, data structures 180 illustrated in FIG. 1H may have beencreated as a result of separate secondary copy operations involving twoclient computing devices 102. For example, a first secondary copyoperation on a first client computing device 102 could result in thecreation of the first chunk folder 184, and a second secondary copyoperation on a second client computing device 102 could result in thecreation of the second chunk folder 185. Container files 190/191 in thefirst chunk folder 184 would contain the blocks of SI data of the firstclient computing device 102. If the two client computing devices 102have substantially similar data, the second secondary copy operation onthe data of the second client computing device 102 would result in mediaagent 144 storing primarily links to the data blocks of the first clientcomputing device 102 that are already stored in the container files190/191. Accordingly, while a first secondary copy operation may resultin storing nearly all of the data subject to the operation, subsequentsecondary storage operations involving similar data may result insubstantial data storage space savings, because links to already storeddata blocks can be stored instead of additional instances of datablocks.

If the operating system of the secondary storage computing device 106 onwhich media agent 144 operates supports sparse files, then when mediaagent 144 creates container files 190/191/193, it can create them assparse files. A sparse file is a type of file that may include emptyspace (e.g., a sparse file may have real data within it, such as at thebeginning of the file and/or at the end of the file, but may also haveempty space in it that is not storing actual data, such as a contiguousrange of bytes all having a value of zero). Having container files190/191/193 be sparse files allows media agent 144 to free up space incontainer files 190/191/193 when blocks of data in container files190/191/193 no longer need to be stored on the storage devices. In someexamples, media agent 144 creates a new container file 190/191/193 whena container file 190/191/193 either includes 100 blocks of data or whenthe size of the container file 190 exceeds 50 MB. In other examples,media agent 144 creates a new container file 190/191/193 when acontainer file 190/191/193 satisfies other criteria (e.g., it containsfrom approx. 100 to approx. 1000 blocks or when its size exceedsapproximately 50 MB to 1 GB). In some cases, a file on which a secondarycopy operation is performed may comprise a large number of data blocks.For example, a 100 MB file may comprise 400 data blocks of size 256 KB.If such a file is to be stored, its data blocks may span more than onecontainer file, or even more than one chunk folder. As another example,a database file of 20 GB may comprise over 40,000 data blocks of size512 KB. If such a database file is to be stored, its data blocks willlikely span multiple container files, multiple chunk folders, andpotentially multiple volume folders. Restoring such files may requireaccessing multiple container files, chunk folders, and/or volume foldersto obtain the requisite data blocks.

Using Backup Data for Replication and Disaster Recovery (“LiveSynchronization”)

There is an increased demand to off-load resource intensive informationmanagement tasks (e.g., data replication tasks) away from productiondevices (e.g., physical or virtual client computing devices) in order tomaximize production efficiency. At the same time, enterprises expectaccess to readily-available up-to-date recovery copies in the event offailure, with little or no production downtime.

FIG. 2A illustrates a system 200 configured to address these and otherissues by using backup or other secondary copy data to synchronize asource subsystem 201 (e.g., a production site) with a destinationsubsystem 203 (e.g., a failover site). Such a technique can be referredto as “live synchronization” and/or “live synchronization replication.”In the illustrated embodiment, the source client computing devices 202 ainclude one or more virtual machines (or “VMs”) executing on one or morecorresponding VM host computers 205 a, though the source need not bevirtualized. The destination site 203 may be at a location that isremote from the production site 201, or may be located in the same datacenter, without limitation. One or more of the production site 201 anddestination site 203 may reside at data centers at known geographiclocations, or alternatively may operate “in the cloud.”

The synchronization can be achieved by generally applying an ongoingstream of incremental backups from the source subsystem 201 to thedestination subsystem 203, such as according to what can be referred toas an “incremental forever” approach. FIG. 2A illustrates an embodimentof a data flow which may be orchestrated at the direction of one or morestorage managers (not shown). At step 1, the source data agent(s) 242 aand source media agent(s) 244 a work together to write backup or othersecondary copies of the primary data generated by the source clientcomputing devices 202 a into the source secondary storage device(s) 208a. At step 2, the backup/secondary copies are retrieved by the sourcemedia agent(s) 244 a from secondary storage. At step 3, source mediaagent(s) 244 a communicate the backup/secondary copies across a networkto the destination media agent(s) 244 b in destination subsystem 203.

As shown, the data can be copied from source to destination in anincremental fashion, such that only changed blocks are transmitted, andin some cases multiple incremental backups are consolidated at thesource so that only the most current changed blocks are transmitted toand applied at the destination. An example of live synchronization ofvirtual machines using the “incremental forever” approach is found inU.S. Patent Application No. 62/265,339 entitled “Live Synchronizationand Management of Virtual Machines across Computing and VirtualizationPlatforms and Using Live Synchronization to Support Disaster Recovery.”Moreover, a deduplicated copy can be employed to further reduce networktraffic from source to destination. For instance, the system can utilizethe deduplicated copy techniques described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,239,687,entitled “Systems and Methods for Retaining and Using Data BlockSignatures in Data Protection Operations.”

At step 4, destination media agent(s) 244 b write the receivedbackup/secondary copy data to the destination secondary storagedevice(s) 208 b. At step 5, the synchronization is completed when thedestination media agent(s) and destination data agent(s) 242 b restorethe backup/secondary copy data to the destination client computingdevice(s) 202 b. The destination client computing device(s) 202 b may bekept “warm” awaiting activation in case failure is detected at thesource. This synchronization/replication process can incorporate thetechniques described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/721,971,entitled “Replication Using Deduplicated Secondary Copy Data.”

Where the incremental backups are applied on a frequent, on-going basis,the synchronized copies can be viewed as mirror or replication copies.Moreover, by applying the incremental backups to the destination site203 using backup or other secondary copy data, the production site 201is not burdened with the synchronization operations. Because thedestination site 203 can be maintained in a synchronized “warm” state,the downtime for switching over from the production site 201 to thedestination site 203 is substantially less than with a typical restorefrom secondary storage. Thus, the production site 201 may flexibly andefficiently fail over, with minimal downtime and with relativelyup-to-date data, to a destination site 203, such as a cloud-basedfailover site. The destination site 203 can later be reversesynchronized back to the production site 201, such as after repairs havebeen implemented or after the failure has passed.

Integrating with the Cloud Using File System Protocols

Given the ubiquity of cloud computing, it can be increasingly useful toprovide data protection and other information management services in ascalable, transparent, and highly plug-able fashion. FIG. 2B illustratesan information management system 200 having an architecture thatprovides such advantages, and incorporates use of a standard file systemprotocol between primary and secondary storage subsystems 217, 218. Asshown, the use of the network file system (NFS) protocol (or any anotherappropriate file system protocol such as that of the Common InternetFile System (CIFS)) allows data agent 242 to be moved from the primarystorage subsystem 217 to the secondary storage subsystem 218. Forinstance, as indicated by the dashed box 206 around data agent 242 andmedia agent 244, data agent 242 can co-reside with media agent 244 onthe same server (e.g., a secondary storage computing device such ascomponent 106), or in some other location in secondary storage subsystem218.

Where NFS is used, for example, secondary storage subsystem 218allocates an NFS network path to the client computing device 202 or toone or more target applications 210 running on client computing device202. During a backup or other secondary copy operation, the clientcomputing device 202 mounts the designated NFS path and writes data tothat NFS path. The NFS path may be obtained from NFS path data 215stored locally at the client computing device 202, and which may be acopy of or otherwise derived from NFS path data 219 stored in thesecondary storage subsystem 218.

Write requests issued by client computing device(s) 202 are received bydata agent 242 in secondary storage subsystem 218, which translates therequests and works in conjunction with media agent 244 to process andwrite data to a secondary storage device(s) 208, thereby creating abackup or other secondary copy. Storage manager 240 can include apseudo-client manager 217, which coordinates the process by, among otherthings, communicating information relating to client computing device202 and application 210 (e.g., application type, client computing deviceidentifier, etc.) to data agent 242, obtaining appropriate NFS path datafrom the data agent 242 (e.g., NFS path information), and deliveringsuch data to client computing device 202.

Conversely, during a restore or recovery operation client computingdevice 202 reads from the designated NFS network path, and the readrequest is translated by data agent 242. The data agent 242 then workswith media agent 244 to retrieve, re-process (e.g., re-hydrate,decompress, decrypt), and forward the requested data to client computingdevice 202 using NFS.

By moving specialized software associated with system 200 such as dataagent 242 off the client computing devices 202, the illustrativearchitecture effectively decouples the client computing devices 202 fromthe installed components of system 200, improving both scalability andplug-ability of system 200. Indeed, the secondary storage subsystem 218in such environments can be treated simply as a read/write NFS targetfor primary storage subsystem 217, without the need for informationmanagement software to be installed on client computing devices 202. Asone example, an enterprise implementing a cloud production computingenvironment can add VM client computing devices 202 without installingand configuring specialized information management software on theseVMs. Rather, backups and restores are achieved transparently, where thenew VMs simply write to and read from the designated NFS path. Anexample of integrating with the cloud using file system protocols orso-called “infinite backup” using NFS share is found in U.S. PatentApplication No. 62/294,920, entitled “Data Protection Operations Basedon Network Path Information.” Examples of improved data restorationscenarios based on network-path information, including using storedbackups effectively as primary data sources, may be found in U.S. PatentApplication No. 62/297,057, entitled “Data Restoration Operations Basedon Network Path Information.”

Highly Scalable Managed Data Pool Architecture

Enterprises are seeing explosive data growth in recent years, often fromvarious applications running in geographically distributed locations.FIG. 2C shows a block diagram of an example of a highly scalable,managed data pool architecture useful in accommodating such data growth.The illustrated system 200, which may be referred to as a “web-scale”architecture according to certain embodiments, can be readilyincorporated into both open compute/storage and common-cloudarchitectures.

The illustrated system 200 includes a grid 245 of media agents 244logically organized into a control tier 231 and a secondary or storagetier 233. Media agents assigned to the storage tier 233 can beconfigured to manage a secondary storage pool 208 as a deduplicationstore, and be configured to receive client write and read requests fromthe primary storage subsystem 217, and direct those requests to thesecondary tier 233 for servicing. For instance, media agents CMA1-CMA3in the control tier 231 maintain and consult one or more deduplicationdatabases 247, which can include deduplication information (e.g., datablock hashes, data block links, file containers for deduplicated files,etc.) sufficient to read deduplicated files from secondary storage pool208 and write deduplicated files to secondary storage pool 208. Forinstance, system 200 can incorporate any of the deduplication systemsand methods shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,020,900, entitled“Distributed Deduplicated Storage System,” and U.S. Pat. Pub. No.2014/0201170, entitled “High Availability Distributed DeduplicatedStorage System.”

Media agents SMA1-SMA6 assigned to the secondary tier 233 receive writeand read requests from media agents CMA1-CMA3 in control tier 231, andaccess secondary storage pool 208 to service those requests. Mediaagents CMA1-CMA3 in control tier 231 can also communicate with secondarystorage pool 208, and may execute read and write requests themselves(e.g., in response to requests from other control media agentsCMA1-CMA3) in addition to issuing requests to media agents in secondarytier 233. Moreover, while shown as separate from the secondary storagepool 208, deduplication database(s) 247 can in some cases reside instorage devices in secondary storage pool 208.

As shown, each of the media agents 244 (e.g., CMA1-CMA3, SMA1-SMA6,etc.) in grid 245 can be allocated a corresponding dedicated partition251A-2511, respectively, in secondary storage pool 208. Each partition251 can include a first portion 253 containing data associated with(e.g., stored by) media agent 244 corresponding to the respectivepartition 251. System 200 can also implement a desired level ofreplication, thereby providing redundancy in the event of a failure of amedia agent 244 in grid 245. Along these lines, each partition 251 canfurther include a second portion 255 storing one or more replicationcopies of the data associated with one or more other media agents 244 inthe grid.

System 200 can also be configured to allow for seamless addition ofmedia agents 244 to grid 245 via automatic configuration. As oneillustrative example, a storage manager (not shown) or other appropriatecomponent may determine that it is appropriate to add an additional nodeto control tier 231, and perform some or all of the following: (i)assess the capabilities of a newly added or otherwise availablecomputing device as satisfying a minimum criteria to be configured as orhosting a media agent in control tier 231; (ii) confirm that asufficient amount of the appropriate type of storage exists to supportan additional node in control tier 231 (e.g., enough disk drive capacityexists in storage pool 208 to support an additional deduplicationdatabase 247); (iii) install appropriate media agent software on thecomputing device and configure the computing device according to apre-determined template; (iv) establish a partition 251 in the storagepool 208 dedicated to the newly established media agent 244; and (v)build any appropriate data structures (e.g., an instance ofdeduplication database 247). An example of highly scalable managed datapool architecture or so-called web-scale architecture for storage anddata management is found in U.S. Patent Application No. 62/273,286entitled “Redundant and Robust Distributed Deduplication Data StorageSystem.”

The embodiments and components thereof disclosed in FIGS. 2A, 2B, and2C, as well as those in FIGS. 1A-1H, may be implemented in anycombination and permutation to satisfy data storage management andinformation management needs at one or more locations and/or datacenters.

Dynamically Configuring a Proxy Server Using Software-Containerizationfor Concurrent and/or Overlapping Backup, Restore, and/or TestOperations

By using the illustrative data storage management system which takesadvantage of software containerization techniques, a single proxy server(e.g., 322) can be dynamically configured as needed to support anynumber of concurrent and/or overlapping storage and/or testingoperations relative to database management systems (DBMSs) in a datanetwork. Illustratively, enhanced storage management components, e.g.,storage manager 340, data agents 542, media agents 544, and a speciallyconfigured proxy server 322, interoperate to enable concurrent and/oroverlapping operations that are not encumbered by namespacerestrictions. By using software containers that operate independently ofeach other on the same proxy server, storage operations and/or testingcan be executed in each respective software container without regard towhat other software containers are doing at the same time. Moreover, thesoftware container-based operations on the proxy server occur withoutinvolving any of the DBMS production servers 302 that use and generate“live” database data (e.g., 112). Thus, the illustrative proxy server322 and the techniques associated with it insulate the DBMS productionenvironment from the testing and storage operations hosted by the proxyserver.

An illustrative data storage management system relies on the speciallyconfigured proxy server 322, illustratively using proxy control logic324 for a variety of functions, including to operate the softwarecontainers, to maintain certain resources needed by the softwarecontainers, and to interwork with other components of the data storagemanagement system, such as the storage manager, primary and secondarydata storage devices, index server(s), and client computing devices.See, e.g., FIGS. 5A and 6. Illustratively, a catalog service 538 thatruns on proxy server 322 comprises maintenance rules 536, maintains asoftware cache 532 according to the rules, and also maintains anassociated cache catalog 534 on the proxy server. The softwarecontainers 323 are generally managed and operated by an illustrativecontainer manager 530 also hosted by proxy server 322. See, e.g., FIGS.3-5B.

The illustrative software contents of software cache 532 are resourcesneeded by software containers 323, such as pre-configured containertemplates 525, DBMS software components 521 (e.g., executable files,library files, configuration files, etc.), so-called lightervisors 523representing target operating systems, and storage management softwareexecutables 527 (e.g., data agents, media agents) for performing testand storage operations. The maintenance rules 536 in catalog service 538govern when contents of software cache 532 should be purged, such as bymoving the contents offline into archive copies on secondary storagefrom where they can be retrieved when needed, e.g., archiving an olderversion of DBMS software 521 or storage management software 527 that isonly rarely used. The illustrative cache catalog 534 comprises an indexof the contents of software cache 532, including a record of whethercache contents are fully present in the software cache or have beenarchived and are represented only by a corresponding stub, and also atimestamp of when each content element was last used in a softwarecontainer. The cache catalogue 534 is kept current by the illustrativecatalog service 538 entering updates therein whenever a software cachecontent element (e.g., 521, 523, 525, and/or 527) is used and/or addedand/or archived. The illustrative catalog service 538 also reports cachecatalog changes to an index server that illustratively operates in thedata storage management system and which comprises diverse indexedinformation collected throughout the system.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram depicting an illustrative data storagemanagement system 300 for using software containerization to dynamicallyconfigure a proxy server for concurrent and/or overlapping storageoperations (e.g., backup, restore, etc.) and/or test operations fordatabase management systems (DBMSs), according to an illustrativeembodiment of the present invention. Illustratively, system 300comprises: data storage device 104; secondary storage computing device106; data storage device 108; production servers 302 (e.g., 302-1 . . .302-M); proxy server 322 comprising containers 323 (e.g., 323-1 . . .323-J), and proxy control logic 324; storage manager 340 comprisingmanagement database 146; and index server 350. The components arecommunicatively coupled as shown by the arrows. Any suitable electroniccommunications infrastructure supports these communication pathways,whether direct or indirect, for example as described above in regard tocommunication pathways 114. Although not shown here, it is to beunderstood that storage manager 340 is in communication with media agent144 executing on secondary storage computing device 106 and with dataagents 142 executing on the respective production DB servers 302 usingcommunication pathways 114 (not shown here). Some of the detailsprovided in FIG. 3 are left out of the present figure for simplicity,but are understood to be part of the depicted embodiment, e.g., anynumber of production DB servers 302, primary data storage devices 104,secondary storage computing devices 106, and secondary data storagedevices 108, without limitation.

Data storage device 104 was described in more detail above. In theillustrative embodiment, data storage device 104 is a storage array thatsupports hardware snapshots and snapshot cloning, though the inventionis not so limited. In regard to the production environment, data storagedevice 104 stores primary data sources, e.g., database DB1 112-1 (FIG.4), that are accessible to DBMS software, e.g., 110 (FIG. 4), executingon a production server 302, so that each data source is read and writtenby the corresponding DBMS software.

Secondary storage computing device 106 was described in more detailabove. In the illustrative embodiment, this device hosts one or moremedia agents 144, each respective media agent being associated and incommunication with one or more data storage devices, such as storagearray 104.

Data storage device 108 was described in more detail above. In theillustrative embodiment, this device stores secondary copies of variouskinds, e.g., backup and/or archive copies of databases 116; backupand/or archive copies of software-container templates 535; backup and/orarchive copies of DBMS software 531; backup and/or archive copies oflightervisors (not shown); backup and/or archive copies of storagemanagement software versions (not shown), such as storage managementsoftware provided by Commvault Systems, Inc. of Tinton Falls, N.J., USA.See, e.g., FIG. 5A.

Production database servers 302 (e.g., 302-1 . . . 302-M) are computingdevices analogous to client computing device 102 and further host DBMSsoftware applications 110 (e.g., DBMS 1, DBMS 2, etc.) and data agent(s)142 respectively associated therewith. Servers 302 are part of a “live”production environment, i.e., performing business operations for theenterprise. In the illustrative embodiment, servers 302 perform databasetransactions using the respective DBMS software 110 being hosted, e.g.,DBMS 1, DBMS 2, etc. A database management system (DBMS) is generallyembodied as computer software that interacts with primary data which isin the form of a database (e.g., DB1 112-1), and the DBMS may generatenew primary data, may change or delete the primary data, may analyze theprimary data (e.g., responding to queries, issuing reports, etc.), aswell as managing the integrity of the data in the database 112. The DBMSsoftware 110 executes on a computing device, such as production databaseserver 302 or proxy server 322. The database (e.g., 112) is generallystored in associated primary storage, such as storage array 104.Examples of database management systems include Oracle, IBM DB2, Sybase,MySQL, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, SAP HANA, etc., withoutlimitation. The associated data agent 142, is illustratively provided byCommvault Systems, Inc. of Tinton Falls, N.J., USA, and is generallyconfigured to be knowledgeable about and compatible with the associatedDBMS, e.g., Oracle data agent, DB2 data agent, DB2 MultiNode data agent,etc. Data agents 142 are application aware and comprise special-purposefunctionality, such as the ability to quiesce a DBMS software and/or itsassociated database in order to launch a storage operation, such as abackup, archive, restore, etc. Data agents 142 also understand otherparameters specific to the associated DBMS, such as software executablefiles (binary files), associated library files, configuration files,location of software executables, naming conventions, data structures,etc.

Proxy server 322 is a computing device specially configured for hostingsoftware containers for testing and storage operations, which may attimes run concurrently or overlappingly with each other by usingsoftware containers. In contrast to production servers 302, proxy server322 is not part of the live production environment that includes servers302. Instead, one or more proxy servers 322 are part of a secondarystorage subsystem 118, and they are involved in performing storage andtesting operations outside the live production sphere. Proxy server 322comprises one or more central data processing units (CPU) and/orcomputing cores, as well as corresponding associated computer mainmemory (RAM) for executing proxy control logic 324 and further forexecuting any number of containers 323. Proxy server 322 alsoillustratively comprises mass storage for storing software cache 532 andcache catalog 534 (see, e.g., FIG. 5A). Proxy server 322 is said to bedynamically configurable by activating and deactivating containers 323.Thus, whether on demand as instructed by storage manager 340 or on apre-defined schedule (not shown), a software container 323 is activatedon proxy server 322 and executes one or more operations, e.g.,establishing a testbed for a DBMS, backing up a database, restoring adatabase from a secondary copy 116, reporting on storage managementoperations, etc., and on completion the container is destroyed andfunctionally disappears from the proxy server.

Software containers 323 (or “containers 323”) (e.g., 323-1 . . . 323-J)are a form of computing virtualization technology that is well known inthe art. In general terms, a software container consists of an entireruntime environment, which includes: an application, plus all itsdependencies, libraries and other binaries, and configuration filesneeded to run it, bundled into one package. By containerizing theapplication platform and its dependencies, differences in operatingsystems and underlying infrastructure are abstracted away. The host(here proxy server 322) runs a single underlying operating system, not ahypervisor, and each software container 323 shares (read-only) theoperating system kernel with the other active software containers 323.Software containers may be much smaller in size than virtual machines,which require their own complete operating system plus the underlyinghypervisor. Docker provides commonly used software container technology,but other providers are in the market as well.

According to the illustrative embodiment, a software container 323comprises elements such that, when the software container is activated,the elements are instantiated and execute on the underlying host (e.g.,proxy server 322) in a user space instance apart from other user spaceinstances created by other co-existing containers 323 that are activelyoperating on the same host (proxy server 322). Although the generalconcept of software containers is well known in the art, the presentsoftware containers 323 are defined and designed to perform storageoperations and the related DBMS testing operations described herein.Accordingly, the contents of software containers 323 include not onlyapplication software in the form of DBMS software 521, but also storagemanagement software 527, which provides storage management componentssuch as data agents 142 and media agents 144 for performing storage/testoperations using the software containers.

Software containers 323 are generally managed by proxy control logic324, which is described in further detail in a subsequent figure.Furthermore, the storage operations performed with each particularsoftware container 323 are managed in some embodiments by subcomponentsof proxy control logic 324 and in other embodiments by storage manager340 as described in further detail below. A given container 323comprises certain elements that are needed by the disclosed storage/testoperations, including a DBMS software instance, a data agent instance, amedia agent instance, and an appropriate target operating system (see,e.g., FIG. 5B for details), and is connected to a database data source,which may be on storage array 104 or secondary storage device 108.Because containers 323 operate mutually independently of one another,the operations of one container 323 occur asynchronously relative toanother container 323, thus enabling concurrent and/or overlappingoperations to take place on multiple containers on proxy server 322. Asillustrated in the present figure, proxy server 322 is able to hostconcurrent and/or overlapping operations for the same and/or diverseDBMS software and database data sources. There is no limit on the numberof containers 323 that can be activated and operational at any giventime on proxy server 322.

Proxy control logic 324 represents a collection of functional componentsand data structures configured on proxy server 322 that collectivelycontrol and manage software containers 323 on proxy server 322. Moredetails are given in subsequent figures. Examples of some of thefunctionality provided by proxy control logic 324, including itsillustrative subcomponents, include one or more of the following withoutlimitation:

-   -   Receiving instructions (e.g., messages, settings, operational        parameters, etc.) from storage manager 340 such as instructions        to create a suitable container 323 for executing a certain DBMS        software 521/531; to obtain a suitable container 323 from a        pre-existing template 525/535; to mount suitable logical storage        (volumes on storage array 104) to the container for access to        data therein; to activate the container and execute the        components therein; to deactivate and/or uninstall the        container; to make a copy of a newly created container and save        it elsewhere as a template;    -   When creating a container 323, establishing settings to the        storage management components therein (e.g., data agent 142,        media agent 144) that identify the storage manager 340 that is        configured to manage the storage/test operations that the        container components (or constituent elements) are to        participate in;    -   Receiving instructions from storage manager 340 to prepare        server 322 for storage operations;    -   Receiving instructions from storage manager 340 to prepare a        DBMS testbed on server 322;    -   Determining and identifying a suitable container template, e.g.,        525, 535;    -   For a testing operation, determining whether the data source is        an existing DB snapshot 414, clone 315, or a secondary copy 116,        and identifying a suitable media agent 144 with access to the        secondary storage device 108 that stores the secondary copy 116;    -   Determining an appropriate data agent 142 to activate in a        container for a given DBMS type/vendor, version, etc. from the        data agents available in storage management software 527;    -   Tracking and maintaining records of what is/was happening on        proxy server 322, e.g., active containers, DBMS instance        identifiers, data agent identifiers, media agent identifiers and        associated secondary storage; storage operations and/or testing;        inactive containers configured on proxy server 322 but not        operating; activity markers, such as duration of active        container operation, associated DBMS identifiers, operations        performed by the container, etc.; this includes maintaining data        structure(s) on proxy server 322 for storing said tracking data        (not shown);    -   Generating and storing reports based on tracking information,        e.g., daily activity report, which are illustratively        transmitted to storage manager 340;    -   Communicating to and from storage manager 340 to receive        instructions and to transmit reporting about past and present        operations, including reporting based on tracking/report        features listed above;    -   Communicating to and from other components, such as an index        server 350, and/or a report server (not shown) for receiving        instructions to generate reports and for transmitting said        reports and/or other raw data (e.g., tracking information)        thereto; illustratively, raw tracking data is transmitted to a        report server, which generates user-friendly reports for user        consumption.

Storage manager 340 illustratively comprises management database 146(and in alternative embodiments being associated with but not comprisingmanagement database 146). Storage manager 340 is analogous to storagemanager 140 and further comprises enhanced features for operating insystem 300, including without limitation the ability to communicate withproxy server 322 and to manage storage/test operations in containers 323executing thereon.

When it executes according to an illustrative embodiment, storagemanager 340 is responsible for one or more of the followingfunctionality without limitation:

-   -   Instructing data agents 142 (on production servers 302) and        media agent(s) 144 (on secondary storage computing device(s)        106) to generate and/or cause the creation of snapshots 414 and        416 stored to storage array 104;    -   Instructing media agents 144 (on secondary storage computing        device(s) 106) to cause storage array 104 to create clones 415        and 417;    -   Tracking logical volumes on storage array 104, e.g., volumes        that comprise clones 415 and 417;    -   Transmitting instructions (e.g., messages, settings, parameters,        etc.) to proxy control logic 324 (or a subcomponent thereof) to        perform certain storage operation(s) and/or test operations; the        parameters for the operation(s) are one or more of: a version of        DBMS software; a database data source; a destination; a target        operating system, a version of storage management software or        data agent or media agent to use in the operation(s), and/or an        identification of a pre-existing container template;    -   Transmitting instructions to proxy control logic 324 (or a        subcomponent thereof) to prepare proxy server 322 for storage        operations, e.g., making secondary copy(ies) 116, restore,        index, report, etc.; and receiving client registration from an        activated data agent 542;    -   Transmitting instructions to proxy control logic 324 (or a        subcomponent thereof) to prepare a DBMS testbed on proxy server        322 for testing a DBMS; and receiving client registration from        an activated data agent 542;    -   Determining and identifying a suitable container template 525,        based on DBMS attributes such as type/vendor, version number,        database name, data source identifier, operation, etc.—for        example, using these parameters to identify a suitable data        agent 142 from storage management software 527 to be activated        in the container, and transmitting said template identifier to        proxy control logic 324 (or a subcomponent thereof);    -   Based on the type of storage operation and/or destination of        secondary copies to be generated, determining and identifying a        suitable container template 525, including identifying a        suitable media agent 144 from storage management software 527        with access to suitable secondary storage 108, and transmitting        said media agent identifier to proxy control logic 324 (or a        subcomponent thereof);    -   For a testing operation, determining whether the data source is        an existing DB snapshot 414 or clone 415 or a secondary copy        116, and identifying a suitable media agent 144 with access to        the secondary storage device 108 that stores the secondary copy        116, and transmitting said identifiers and operational        parameters to proxy control logic 324 (or a subcomponent        thereof);    -   Determining an appropriate data agent 142 to populate in a        container 323 for a given DBMS type/vendor, version, etc. and        transmitting said identifier to proxy control logic 324 (or a        subcomponent thereof);    -   Receiving registrations from activated data agents 142 and media        agents 144 in an activated container 323 and managing storage        and test operations occurring in the respective container using        the respective data agent 142 and media agent 144;    -   Communicating to and from proxy control logic 324 (or a        subcomponent thereof) to transmit instructions and to receive        reporting about past and present operations based on        tracking/report features listed above in regard to proxy control        logic 324 (or a subcomponent thereof);    -   Communicating to and from other components, such as index server        350, and/or a report server (not shown) for transmitting thereto        raw data and reports received by storage manager 340 from proxy        control logic 324 (or a subcomponent thereof);    -   Using tracking and/or reporting information received from proxy        control logic 324 (or a subcomponent thereof) to generate        reports for user consumption regarding container operations and        storage/test operations on proxy server 322;    -   Etc., without limitation.

As is evident from the illustrative (and not limiting) enumeration offunctionality above, one or more of the enumerated features above can beperformed by proxy control logic 324 (or a subcomponent thereof),storage manager 340, or a combination thereof, depending on the chosenembodiment. Illustrative details on the functionality of proxy controllogic 324 are given in subsequent figures. Other embodiments will becomeevident to a person having ordinary skill in the art after reading thepresent disclosure and understanding the accompanying figures.

Index server 350 is a computing device, a component of data storagemanagement system 300, that stores diverse information gleaned andcollected from data storage management system 300. For example, indexserver 350 serves as a repository of media agent indexes 153; collectsupdates from cache catalog 534, etc.

Data storage management system 300 is not limited to the configurationdepicted in the present figure, and other configurations are possiblethat include any number of the depicted components, e.g., several proxyservers 322, multiple storage arrays 104, multiple secondary storagedevices 108, etc., without limitation.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram depicting further detail of certain componentsof system 300. Illustratively, secondary storage computing device 106hosts a media agent 144; production server 302 (e.g., 302-1) hosts DBMS1 software 110, associated data agent 142, and discovery module 442;primary storage device (storage array) 104 comprises database primarydata DB1 112-1, DB1 snapshot 414-1, DB1 snapshot clone 415-1, DBMS 1software “home” snapshot 416-1, and DBMS 1 “home” clone 417-1, and otherdata; and proxy server 322 hosts proxy control logic 324 and any numberof software containers 323 (e.g., 323-1 . . . 323-J). Communicationpathways among the illustrative components are depicted by the arrows,without limitation. Any suitable electronic communicationsinfrastructure supports these communication pathways, whether direct orindirect, for example as described above in regard to communicationpathways 114.

DBMS 1 application software (of “DBMS software”) 110 is hosted by andexecutes on a production database server 302 (e.g., 302-1). DBMSsoftware 110 is illustratively a version of Oracle software, but inalternative embodiments it can be IBM DB2, Sybase, MySQL, PostgreSQL,Microsoft SQL Server, SAP HANA, etc., without limitation. The associateddata agent 142 is configured to be knowledgeable about and compatiblewith the Oracle database management system in general and with the DBMSsoftware 110 version in particular, e.g., an Oracle data agent (or inalternative embodiments correspondingly a DB2 data agent, DB2 MultiNodedata agent, etc.).

Discovery module 442 is a functional software module that executes ondemand (e.g., based on instructions received from storage manager 340and/or from proxy control logic 324) to identify executable software(s)on the host client computing device 302, and more specifically, toidentify the respective directory (or folder) that represents aso-called “home” for the discovered software(s). For example, a“software home” (not shown) for database management software (e.g., DBMS1 110) comprises one or more executable files, such as binary files andlibrary files, and configuration files for the database managementsoftware. The software home also could comprise other contents, such aslog files, uninstall utilities, etc., without limitation, which may varyfrom one software manufacturer to another. Discovery module 442 istasked with identifying the software home and the contents therein andfurther with identifying which of the files in the software home qualifyas “container-related,” meaning that the container-related files in asoftware home are sufficient by themselves, if executed in asoftware-container, to properly execute the software version discoveredin the software home, e.g., Oracle version 1.1. According to theillustrative embodiment, container-related files include binary files,library files, and configuration files. In alternative embodiments, orin regard to other DBMS software, other files may also qualify ascontainer-related. More details regarding the operations andinteroperations of discovery module 442 can be found in subsequentfigures.

In some alternative embodiments, discovery module 442 operatesautonomously on an ongoing or periodic basis, and not on demand, or inaddition to on demand. In some alternative embodiments, discovery module442 will seek to discover only certain pre-identified or specifiedapplication software, or only certain classes of software, e.g., DBMSsoftware. Discovery module 442 is shown herein as a distinct componentto ease understanding of the present disclosure, however, alternativeembodiments are also possible within the scope of the present invention.For example, discovery functionality may be layered on or incorporatedwithin existing data agent 142 code that also resides and operates onthe same client computing device 302.

Primary storage device (storage array) 104 comprises a number ofillustrative data elements, including database primary data DB1 112-1,DB1 snapshot 414-1, DB1 clone 415-1, DBMS 1 software “home” snapshot416-1, and DBMS 1 “home” clone 417-1, as well as other data (not shown).DB1 112-1 is a database data source that serves as primary data for andis accessible by DBMS 1 software 110 executing on client computingdevice 302. As with any primary data, DB1 database data 112-1 may beread, changed, moved, deleted, and otherwise modified by the DBMSsoftware 110 accessing it.

Illustratively, storage array 104 is equipped with hardware snapshotcapabilities, i.e., the ability to take, store, and uniquely identifysnapshots of volumes hosted by the storage array. The hardware snapshotsmay be taken by the storage array in response to commands or likeinstructions (e.g., using an application programming interface (API))received from a storage management component such as media agent 144(e.g., hosted by secondary storage computing device 106).Illustratively, the source volume for an array-generated snapshot may bea volume hosting primary data 112 or a volume hosting another snapshotsuch as 414. For convenience and to help with understanding the presentdisclosure, a “snapshot 414” herein is understood to mean a snapshot ofa source volume hosting primary data 112, which is a static view orpoint-in-time copy of the source database data 112 as it existed at thetime of snapshot 414 creation. A “clone 415” is a copy of a sourcevolume that comprises a previously-taken snapshot 414 or another clone415. Thus, a clone 415 is a copy taken of a snapshot, and is not asnapshot of primary data, though it also represents the same static viewor point-in-time copy of the source volume hosting primary data 112 asit existed when snapshot 414 was taken.

In general, making a clone 415 of an existing snapshot 414 does notaffect production database management operations. For example, to createa snapshot 414-1 of primary data 112-1, data agent 142 first momentarilyquiesces DBMS 1 software 110 operating on the primary data 112-1; mediaagent 144 instructs storage array 104 to take a snapshot of the volumehosting primary data 112-1; storage array 104 duly generates a snapshot414-1 and stores it to another volume on the storage array; media agent144 indexes the identity and location of snapshot 414-1; and DBMS 1software 110 is unquiesced, e.g., by data agent 142, so that it mayresume operating. Thus, creating a snapshot 414 affects the productionenvironment to the extent that quiescing is momentarily required.

On the other hand, when a clone 415 is needed, the productionenvironment is no longer involved or affected thereby, because nointeroperations with the DBMS software 110 on the client computingdevice 302 or with its primary data 112 are required. Instead, mediaagent 144 (e.g., hosted by secondary storage computing device 106)instructs storage array 104 to take a snapshot of the volume hosting anexisting snapshot (e.g., 414-1); storage array 104 duly generates aclone 415-1 stored to yet another volume on the storage array; and mediaagent 144 indexes the identity and location of clone 415-1. Meanwhile,DBMS software 110 and its primary data 112-1 operate undisturbed by anduninvolved in cloning operations.

A DBMS “home” snapshot 416 (e.g., 416-1) is a snapshot that representsthe so-called “software home” of DBMS software 110, such that thecontents of DBMS snapshot 416 are sufficient to boot up and execute aninstance of the DBMS software 110. Thus, DBMS snapshot 416 comprises theexecutable file(s) of the DBMS software, including binary files andlibrary files, configuration files, associated program files, and anyother files, data, and/or metadata used by the respective DBMS softwareto execute on production DB server 302. DBMS snapshot 416 excludesprimary database data 112. Thus, DBMS snapshot 416 comprises, amongother things, all files needed for container operations on proxy server322—the so-called “container-related files” or “container-relatedcontent.” DBMS snapshot 416 is illustratively a software snapshotgenerated by the operating system of production DB server 302, whichhosts the “software home.” The software snapshot operation isillustratively initiated by a command received by co-resident data agent142 from storage manager 340, and the resulting snapshot contents aretransmitted by data agent 142 to media agent 144, which stores it to avolume in storage array 104. In the illustrative system 300, onesnapshot 416 of a production DBMS software home is sufficient forperforming the subsequent storage and testing operations describedherein in regard to proxy server 322, hence the “one-time” designationof snapshot 416-1. Thus, as to any production DBMS software 110 (e.g.,DBMS 1, DBMS 2, etc.) on a given production DB server 302, a “one-time”snapshot 416 suffices to enable the subsequent operations that flowtherefrom in system 300.

A DBMS “home” clone 417 is a snapshot copy of a source volume thatcomprises a previously-taken DBMS snapshot 416 or another existing clone417. Like DBMS snapshot 416, the contents of DBMS clone 417 suffice toinstantiate and execute the respective DBMS software 110. DBMS clone 417can be mounted to a container 323 for instantiating the DBMS software521 and executing it within the respective container. Like DBMS snapshot416, DBMS clone 417 also is a one-time operation from which thesubsequent storage operations and testing flow in the illustrativesystem.

FIG. 5A is a block diagram depicting further detail of certaincomponents of system 300, including proxy control logic 324. FIG. 5Adepicts: secondary storage device 108 comprising secondary copy(ies) ofDBMS software 531, secondary copy(ies) of container template(s) 535, andsecondary copy(ies) of database data 116; proxy control logic 324comprising container manager 530, software-cache 532 (comprising DBMSsoftware(s) 521, target operating system(s) (lightervisors) 523,container templates 525, storage management software(s) 527, dataagent(s) 542, and media agent(s) 544), cache catalog 534, and catalogservice 538 comprising rules 536; and index server 350.

Secondary copy(ies) of DBMS software 531, secondary copy(ies) ofcontainer template(s) 535, and secondary copy(ies) of database data 116represent copies (e.g., backup copies, archive copies) generated bystorage operations in system 300. For example, DBMS software 521(originally in software cache 532) that was archived to secondarystorage would have resulted in a secondary (archive) copy 531. Likewise,a lightervisor 523 from software cache 532 that was archived tosecondary storage would have resulted in a secondary (archive) copy (notshown) on secondary storage device 108. Likewise, a container template525 from software cache 532 that was archived to secondary storage wouldhave resulted in a secondary (archive) copy 535 on secondary storagedevice 108. Likewise, a version of storage management software 527 fromsoftware cache 532 that was archived to secondary storage would haveresulted in a secondary (archive) copy (not shown) on secondary storagedevice 108. Secondary copies of database data, such as secondary copiesof primary data 112, of snapshots 414, etc. are represented by secondarycopies 116.

Proxy control logic 324 comprises container manager 530, software-cache532, cache catalog 534, and catalog service 538 comprising rules 536.

Container manager 530 is a functional component of system 300, and isprimarily concerned with ensuring that storage and test operations canbe performed on proxy server 322 by using containers 323, which involvescommunicating with storage manager 340, creating and activatingcontainers 323, and destroying containers 323 on task completion. Moredetails are given in regard to FIG. 6 (e.g., block 670) and subsequentfigures.

Software-cache 532 is a repository of data configured on proxy server322 that stores a variety of data needed for properly populating andexecuting software containers 323 according to the illustrativeembodiment, and software cache 532 is maintained on proxy server 322 inorder to make its contents readily available when a software containeris needed. Software cache 532 comprises one or more unique versions of:DBMS software 521, container templates 525, target operating system(s)(lightervisors) 523, storage management software(s) 527, data agent(s)542, and media agent(s) 544.

DBMS software 521 comprises a collection of container-related files thatare sufficient by themselves, if executed in a software-container 323,to properly execute the software version discovered in the softwarehome, e.g., Oracle version 1.1. A given DBMS software exists in numerousversions, e.g., Oracle version 1.1, Oracle version 1.2, Oracle version1.2.1. Consequently, a DBMS software 521 refers to a specific suchversion, e.g., Oracle version 1.2.1. According to the illustrativeembodiment, container-related files include binary files, library files,and configuration files for a particular manufacture and version of DBMSsoftware, e.g., Oracle version 1.2.1, and these collectively form DBMSsoftware 521 in software-cache 532. In alternative embodiments, or inregard to other DBMS software, other files may also qualify ascontainer-related.

A target operating system 523 for a software-container is also referredto herein as a lightervisor. For example, a Linux container (LXC)provides operating system-level virtualization via a virtual environmentthat has its own process and network space instead of providing a fullyfeatured virtual machine. Lightervisors are well known in the art.

A container template 525 comprises a particular set of subcomponentssuch that a software container 323 can be immediately created therefrom,without assembling or importing further contents therein, and can thenbe activated and connected to a data source. According to theillustrative embodiment, a container template 525 comprises: a DBMSsoftware 521, a target OS (lightervisor) 523, and a storage managementsoftware 527. The particular choice of elements 521, 523, and 527 may bespecified by parameters received from storage manager 340 or from anadministration console (not shown). It is convenient to maintainfrequently-used container template(s) 525 in software-cache 532 ratherthan having to assemble and re-assemble like containers 323 repeatedly.

Storage management software 527 is supplied in the illustrativeembodiment by Commvault Systems, Inc. of Tinton Falls, N.J., USA.Storage management software 527, like DBMS software 521, comprisesbinary files, library files, and configuration files needed toinstantiate and run the software. Storage management software 527comprises subcomponents, such as various types of data agents and mediaagents, each one suitable to a particular type of task or application asdescribed in more detail in regard to FIGS. 1A-1H and 2A-2C herein. Inregard to containerized operations on proxy server 323, depending uponthe particular DBMS software 521 in the container (e.g., Oracle version1.1), a suitable Oracle data agent 142 would be activated to run in thecontainer and help perform the testing/storage operation tasked to thecontainer. The other data agents 142 remain “decoupled,” i.e., are notexecuted in the container. Likewise, depending on the database datasource and destination of the storage/testing operation to be run in thecontainer, suitable media agent(s) 144 would be activated in order toprovide access to the data storage devices involved in the operation,while others remain decoupled. Storage management software 527 exists innumerous versions, e.g., Version 10 Service Pack 3, Version 11 ServicePack 4, Version 11 Service Pack 5, etc. Consequently, a storagemanagement software 527 refers to a specific such version, e.g., Version11 Service Pack 4.

Cache catalog 534 is a data structure (or in some alternativeembodiments a collection of data structures) that comprises an index ofthe contents of software cache 532, including a record of whether aparticular software cache content, e.g., a version of DBMS software 521,is fully present in software cache 532 or has been archived and isrepresented only by a corresponding stub. Cache catalog 534 alsoindicates when each content element of software cache 532, e.g., aparticular container template 525, a particular target OS (lightervisor)523, etc., was last used in a software container 323 activated on proxyserver 322. The cache catalogue 534 is kept current by the illustrativecatalog service 538 entering updates therein whenever a software cachecontent element (e.g., DBMS software 521, target OS 523, containertemplate 525, storage management software 527, data agent 542, and mediaagent 544) is used and/or added and/or archived. Catalog service 538also reports cache catalog changes to index server 350, which comprisesdiverse indexed information collected throughout system 300, whether theinformation is related to software containers, storage operations,secondary copies, deduplication, configuration data, data contents,storage devices, etc., without limitation.

Catalog service 538 comprises rules 536, which govern whether contentelements of software cache 532 should be archived. Generally, lesserused contents will be archived (using data agent 542 and media agent544) from being readily available in software cache 532 to an archivecopy stored in secondary storage device 108 (e.g., 531, 535). Afterarchiving a particular content element, catalog service 538 places astub into software cache 532 pointing to the secondary (archive) copy.Archiving is triggered by one or more thresholds maintained in rules536, e.g., a percentage of allocated storage space occupied by softwarecache 532, an absolute amount of storage space occupied by softwarecache 532, etc. Rules 536 generally favor archiving contents that arerarely used or have not been used longer than a threshold amount oftime. To that end, catalog service 536 analyzes the timestampinformation in cache catalog 534 to determine when a content element ofsoftware cache 532 is ripe for archiving. This approach favorsfrequently used and recently used content over lesser used content,though in some alternative embodiments additional rules arecontemplated, such as ensuring that the most recent version of storagemanagement software 527 is always in software cache 532 even if it doesnot meet a frequency metric; other keep-versus-archive criteria arepossible as well, without limitation. After archiving, content can beretrieved on demand in case it is needed for a container 323 asdescribed in further detail in regard to FIG. 6 and subsequent figures.

According to the illustrative embodiment, storage management software527 comprises a number of data agents 142 and media agents 144 neededfor the storage operations and testing to be performed using containers323. However, at least one data agent 542 and media agent 544 aremaintained separately in a ready state in software cache 532 as shownhere, for purposes of moving contents into and out of software cache 532without reference to and independently of whether a software container323 is active or not. Accordingly, data agent 542 is suitable to thefile system and operating system of proxy server 322. Media agent 544 issuitable to the particular secondary storage device(s) 108 that storesecondary copies that might be needed for containerized operations onproxy server 322.

FIG. 5B is a block diagram depicting further detail of certaincomponents of system 300, including an illustrative container 323, aswell as certain data movement operations using a snapshot clone as adata source for generating a secondary copy. FIG. 5B depicts: primarystorage device (storage array) 104 comprising DB1 clone 415-1; secondarystorage device 108 comprising secondary copy of database data 116-1 andsecondary copy of database data 116-2; container 323 comprising DBMSsoftware 521 (e.g., Oracle version 1.0), target OS (lightervisor) 523,and storage management software 527 (comprising data agent 142 and mediaagent 144); and storage manager 340 comprising management database 146.Communications among data agent 142, media agent 144, and storagemanager 340 are depicted by bi-directional arrows 114.

Container 323 is shown here in an activated state wherein the contentsare executing and performing a backup operation. DB1 clone 415-1 isdirectly accessible to DBMS software 521 as a database data source.Secondary copy 116-1 is the destination of the backup operation andrepresents the database data in a backup format (e.g., encrypted,compressed, with metadata, etc.). The dotted unidirectional arrowsrepresent the logical data flow from source to destination, includingprocessing of the data by data agent 142 and media agent 144 asdescribed in more detail elsewhere herein.

Secondary copy 116-2 is an alternative database data source, i.e., adata source in secondary copy format that must first undergo a restoreoperation before it can be readily accessible to DBMS software 521. Insuch a case, data agent 142 and media agent 144 would first restoresecondary copy 116-2 to a volume configured on storage array 104 and therestored data therein would then be accessible to DBMS software 521executing in container 323. More details are given in subsequent figures(see, e.g., block 1204 in FIG. 12).

FIG. 6 depicts some high-level salient operations of a method 600according to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention. Thepresent high-level depiction shows two asynchronous operations occurringon proxy server 322: block 660 and block 670. Block 660 comprisespopulating and maintaining software cache 532 on proxy server 322; thisis an ongoing operation that can continue indefinitely as shown by thelooping arrow. Block 670 comprises performing any number of storageand/or test operations using respective containers 323 on proxy server322; these operations can be concurrent or can overlap with each otherin time without limitation; these operations can repeat indefinitely asshown by the looping arrow. Operations in block 670 are asynchronouswith those in block 660, although as shown by the bi-directional arrowconnecting block 660 with block 670, information from one block istransmitted to and used by the other block at times. More details aregiven in subsequent figures.

FIG. 7 depicts some salient operations of block 660 in method 600. Block660 generally populates and maintains software cache 532 on proxy server322, and is largely, though not exclusively, performed by catalogservice 538, which executes on proxy server 322.

At block 702, a list of container-eligible clients is created in system300 and illustratively stored to catalog service 538 and optionally tomanagement database 146. The list is created by clientself-registration, e.g., by a user/administrator of client computingdevice 302. In some alternative embodiments, an enhanced data agent 142that executes on client computing device 302 and is DBMS-specific isspecially programmed to self-register because it supports DBMS software,and is further programmed to do so without intervention from auser/administrator; in contrast, other kinds of data agents 142 do notself-register. In other alternative embodiments, storage manager 340, oralternatively, a system administrator with access to storage manager 340(e.g., using an administrative console) identifies a set of key servers302 in system 300 that should be made container-eligible. In somealternative embodiments, block 702 is skipped altogether and controlpasses to block 704 such that discovery 442 is not selective andtherefore executes on all client computing devices.

At block 704, discovery module 442 executes on each container-eligibleclient computing device 302 (unless the process is not selective asmentioned above and all client computing devices 302 are subjected todiscovery). On any given client computing device 302, discovery module442 identifies the software home of a database management software.Discovery software is well known in the art. In the present embodiment,discovery module 442 is specially tasked with identifying the softwarehome of database management software, though in alternative embodimentsother software homes may be discovered as well. The discoveredinformation, including details about the contents of each discoveredsoftware home, is transmitted by discovery module 442 to catalog service538 executing on proxy server 322.

At block 706, catalog service 538 consults cache catalog 534 todetermine whether the discovered container-related DBMS softwarecontents in the software home on client computing device 302 areavailable from software cache 532, such as a binaries of the DBMSsoftware, libraries, and configuration files. If the discovered DBMSsoftware contents in the software home are not in software cache 532already (in full or in stubbed form), catalog service 538 initiates abackup of the DBMS software home from client 302 to software cache 532on proxy server 322. At the completion of block 706 the discovered DBMSsoftware contents are available from software cache 532. More detailsare given in a subsequent figure.

At block 708, if free storage space in cache 532 passes a threshold,catalog service 538 initiates archiving of one or more contents of cache532 to secondary storage (e.g., 108) to free up space, and updates cachecatalog 534 accordingly to reflect changes in software cache contents.More details are given in a subsequent figure.

At block 710, when contents of software cache 532 are used in acontainer 323 executing on proxy server 322, catalog service 538receives notice from container manager 530 (see, e.g., block 670) andupdates cache catalog 534 accordingly. For example, when a container 323is activated, a timestamp is generated and becomes associated withcontent elements of the activated container, e.g., DBMS software 521,target OS 523, storage management system software 527, and/or containertemplate 525. These timestamps, also referred to herein as “last-usedtimestamps” enable catalog service 538 to apply rules 536 to determinewhich contents of software cache 532 should be archived, as discussed inblock 708. More details are given in a subsequent figure.

At block 712, control passes back to block 702 to continue populatingand maintaining software cache 532. The processes of block 660 occur onan ongoing basis. For example, when a new client computing device 302 isadded to system 300, discovery may be initiated as described at block702. In some embodiments, the processes of block 660 may occur on ascheduled basis, e.g., daily, weekly, etc., except that notifications oncontainer usage received from container manager 530 are not scheduled bycatalog service 538; likewise, on demand commands or instructions fromstorage manager 340 or from an administrative console also are notscheduled.

FIG. 8 depicts some salient operations of block 670 in method 600. Ingeneral, block 670 performs any number of storage and/or test operationsusing respective containers 323 on proxy server 322, and theseoperations may be concurrent or may overlap with each other over time,without limitation.

At block 802, container manager 530 executing on proxy server 322receives parameters for a storage/test operation from storage manager340 and/or from an administration console. Parameters includeidentifiers for and/or indicators of, for example the type of operationto be performed (e.g., backup, archive, restore, test, etc.), a DBMSsoftware version (e.g., Oracle version 1.3.1), a target OS(lightervisor), a data source, and a version of storage managementsoftware to use in performing the storage/test operation. Parameters mayfurther include a destination for a storage operation, such as a storagedevice (e.g., 108) for storing a secondary copy or a storage device(e.g., 104) for storing data restored from secondary storage.

At block 804, container manager 530 generates a container 323 usingcontents obtained from software cache 532, including a target OS(lightervisor) 523, a DBMS software 521, and storage management software527 (in decoupled mode), or uses a matching pre-existing containertemplate 523 if one already exists with all the desired content elements(target OS, DBMS software, and storage management software). Moredetails are given in a subsequent figure.

At block 806, container manager 530 activates container 323, whichincludes transmitting a notice of use to catalog service 538 (see, e.g.,block 660, block 710). Once the container is activated, softwarecomponents therein, e.g., DBMS software and target OS (lightervisor),are instantiated and begin executing—they are said to execute within thecontainer 323.

At block 808, container manager 530 activates an appropriateDBMS-specific data agent 142 within the storage management software 527in the container. In other words, though the storage management software527 in the container comprises numerous kinds of data agents 142 andmedia agents 144, only a suitable data agent 142 is activated forparticipating in the storage/test operations contemplated for the DBMSsoftware in the container. The others remain inactive in “decoupledmode.” Illustratively, an Oracle data agent 142 is activated to supportan Oracle version 1.3.1 DBMS software in the container. Likewise, asuitable media agent 144 is activated for accessing secondary storagedevice 108. Once activated, data agent 142 in the container establishescommunications with storage manager 340 (e.g., based on informationsupplied by container manager 530) and registers as a client withstorage manager 340. Registering as a client of system 300 enables thestorage/test operations to proceed. Storage manager 340 accordinglystores the client information in management database 146.

At block 810, DBMS software 521 in container 323 becomes connected witha database data source so that the contemplated storage/test operationcan proceed. For example, a DB clone 415 configured in a volume onstorage array 104 may be a data source for a backup operation togenerate a secondary copy 116 to be stored into secondary storage device108. Alternatively, a secondary copy of database data 116 in secondarystorage device 108 may be a data source for a test operation to checkcompatibility between secondary copy 116 and DBMS software 521, or maybe a data source for restoring an older point-in-time copy of a database(116) to the production environment so that it can become accessible toproduction DBMS software 110. More details are given in a subsequentfigure.

At block 812, having activated all the necessary software elements andestablished a connection to the appropriate data source, the desiredstorage/test operation is performed. For example, data may be backed upfrom storage array 104 to secondary storage device 108 (e.g., creating asecondary copy 116 from a DB clone 415). For example, a secondary copy116 may be restored from secondary storage 108 to storage array 104where it may be later promoted to primary data for a DBMS application110 running on a client computing device 302. For example, a secondarycopy 116 may be restored (in whole, or in part using pseudo-mount) fromsecondary storage 108 to storage array 104 where it may be used as atestbed to check any number of scenarios, e.g., whether the restoreddata is compatible with the DBMS software version in the container,whether the restored data and DBMS software in the container arecompatible with the target OS in the container, whether the storagemanagement software version in the container can properly restore asecondary copy 116 created by an older version; for measuringperformance and comparing different versions of storage managementsoftware 527 after a new version is issued, etc. Storage manager 340manages the desired storage/test operation here, including communicatingwith data agent 142 and media agent 144 operating in container 323 viacommunications pathway 114 (see, e.g., FIG. 5B).

At block 814, on completion of the tasks performed in a given container323 (e.g., scheduled timeout, on demand termination) container manager530 destroys the given container 323, reversing the effects of blocks804, 806, 808, and 810. This operation comprises removing any temporarydata structures from storage devices (e.g., a temporary restored datadestination set up on storage array 104 is removed and the storagevolume is released), causing the data agent 142 in the container topro-actively de-register as a client from storage manager 340, andde-activating the software elements in container 323. Optionally, atemplate 525 of the container is generated by container manager 530 andstored to software-cache 532 for possible re-use at a later time (withassociated updates to cache catalog 534). The container 323 isdestroyed.

At block 816, any number of other storage or testing operations usingother respective containers 323 may occur on proxy server 322, whetherat the same time in whole or in part as other storage/test operationshosted by other containers 323. As noted elsewhere, because thestorage/test operation occurs with software elements executing in thesoftware container 323, any number of other similar operations can beperformed at the same time, in whole or in part, in other containers 323executing on the same proxy server 323. Thus, for example, if twodifferent versions of Oracle DBMS software are to be compared in regardto operating from an older restored point-in-time database backup copy116, two distinct software containers 323 can be created one for eachrespective version of Oracle DBMS software. With no namespace conflictsdue to containerization, the restore operations can be executedconcurrently or substantially concurrently and performance metricscollected and compared. Likewise, different versions of storagemanagement software 527 can be run concurrently and compared. Also,different point-in-time snapshots 414 of production database data (e.g.,414-1, 414-2, 414-3, etc.) can be cloned to a respective clone 415 andfrom there each DB clone 415 can be backed up using a respectivecontainer 323 regardless of whether an earlier clone 415 is also beingbacked up at the same time. This is very convenient if the point-in-timesnapshots 414 are taken more frequently than the duration of therespective backup operations; if the backups take longer than theinterval between snapshots 414, the containerization techniquesdescribed herein will enable any number of backups to occur on proxyserver 322 concurrently and/or overlappingly without concerns overnamespace conflicts.

FIG. 9 depicts some salient operations of block 706 in method 600, whichare largely executed or initiated by catalog service 538. Block 706 isgenerally concerned with ensuring that software cache 532 is up to date,and if a discovered DBMS software is not in cache 532, back up the DBMShome from client 302 to cache 532 on proxy server 322.

At block 902, catalog service 538 queries cache catalog 534 whether thediscovered DBMS software (including binaries, libraries, configurationfile(s)) is in software cache 532. The query can take any form,including illustratively reading cache catalog 534 by catalog service538.

At block 904, if according to cache catalog 534, the discovered DBMSsoftware is already stored in software cache 532 (e.g., DBMS software521) and is present in full and not represented as a stub therein, nofurther action is required and control effectively passes out of block706.

At block 906, if according to cache catalog 534, the discovered DBMSsoftware is stubbed in software cache 532, catalog service 538 initiatesa restore operation. Accordingly, the stub points to a secondary copy ofDBMS software 531 stored in secondary storage (e.g., 108). This copy isrestored from there to software cache 532. Illustratively, binary files,library files, and configuration files are collectively restored usingdata agent 542 and media agent 544 which are always available insoftware cache 532. See, e.g., FIG. 5A. Illustratively, catalog service538 initiates and manages the restore operation autonomously. In somealternative embodiments, catalog service 538 notifies storage manager340 of the need to initiate the restore operation using data agent 542and media agent 544, and storage manager 340 then takes control tomanage the restore operation. At the completion of block 906, thediscovered DBMS software 521 is stored in full (including binary files,library files, and configuration file(s)) into software cache 532 fromwhich it may be readily used for storage/test operations at block 670.

At block 908, if according to cache catalog 534, the discovered DBMSsoftware is not found in software cache 532 (whether in full orrepresented by stub(s)), catalog service 538 initiates a backup of thediscovered DBMS home from client computing device 302 (the so-calledcontainer-related files or container-related content) to software cache532. Illustratively, binary files, library files, and configurationfiles in the software home directory on client computing device 302 arecollected by a co-resident data agent 142 thereon and in conjunctionwith a media agent 144 (see, e.g., FIG. 4) they are backed up in fulland stored into software cache 532 on proxy server 322. Illustratively,catalog service 538 initiates and manages this backup operationautonomously. In some alternative embodiments, catalog service 538notifies storage manager 340 of the need to initiate the backupoperation using data agent 142 and media agent 144, and storage manager340 then takes control to manage the backup. At the completion of block908, the discovered DBMS software 521 is stored in full (includingbinary files, library files, and configuration file(s)) into softwarecache 532 from which it may be readily used for storage/test operationsin block 670.

At block 910, catalog service 538 updates cache catalog 534 to reflectthe availability in full and the timestamp of adding DMBS software 521into software cache 532.

At block 912, catalog service 538 reports the update of cache catalog534 to index server 350. In case of a failure of proxy server 322 or ofdata corruption in cache catalog 534, catalog service 538 and/or storagemanager 340 can later retrieve the information from index server 350.

FIG. 10 depicts some salient operations of block 708 in method 600.Block 708 is generally directed at freeing up storage space in softwarecache 532 based on threshold considerations.

At block 1002, catalog service 538 determines that a pre-definedstorage-space threshold has been passed by software cache 532.Illustratively the threshold value is stored among rules 536. One ormore thresholds may be concurrently operational. For example, thethreshold illustratively is a percentage of the total storage spaceallocated to software cache 532, e.g., 80%. Alternatively, the thresholdmay be an absolute size of the storage space occupied by software cache532. In some embodiments, the threshold may be a combination ofpercentage and absolute amount, etc. without limitation. If thethreshold has been passed, clean-up is required and control passes toblock 1004.

At block 1004, cache catalog 534 and rules 536 come into play todetermine which contents of software cache 532 to purge. Based oninformation in cache catalog 534 and rules 536, catalog service 538analyzes usage of software cache contents to identify one or morecontents to archive. For example, content that is least-frequently usedrelative to other content in the software cache is identified so that itcan be archived in the next block. In alternative embodiments,oldest-used content is identified for archiving. In other embodiments,the analysis is more granular, for example identifying theleast-frequently used content by type, e.g., DBMS software, target OS,version of storage management software, container template, etc., andonly the least-frequently used of each type is identified for archiving,making sure to retain at least one of each type of content in thesoftware cache. Similarly, in other embodiments, the oldest-used contentis identified by type of content. In some embodiments, content that waslast used before a certain threshold timeframe is identified forarchiving, e.g., more than one year ago. In some embodiments, a contentversion that goes back more than a threshold number of releases, e.g.,more than three versions ago, is identified for archiving. Other schemesfor identifying contents of the software cache for archiving are alsopossible in other embodiments.

At block 1006, for each identified content, catalog service 538initiates an archive operation to move the identified content fromsoftware cache 532 into an archive copy in secondary storage (e.g.,108). The data agent 542 and media agent 544, which are readilyavailable in software cache 532 are used for the archiving operation.Catalog service 538 manages the archive operation. In some alternativeembodiments, catalog service 538 notifies storage manager 340 of theneed to archive contents from software cache 532 using data agent 542and media agent 544, and storage manager 340 takes control to manage thearchive operation. Any number of archive copies can be created, e.g.,531, 535, etc.

At block 1008, after the archiving operation is complete, catalogservice 538 creates a stub in software cache 532 that points to thearchive copy in secondary storage.

At block 1010, catalog service 538 updates cache catalog 534 to indicatethat certain contents are available in stubbed form in software cache532 and also reports the update(s) to index server 350.

FIG. 11 depicts some salient operations of block 804 in method 600.Block 804 is generally directed at container manager 530 generating acontainer 343 using contents obtained from software cache 532.

At block 1102, container manager 530 queries catalog 534 to determinewhether all needed content for container 323 according to receivedparameters for the desired storage/test operation are available insoftware cache 532. The query illustratively takes the form of containermanager 530 reading cache catalog 534, although other queryimplementations are possible in alternative embodiments.

At block 1104, when container manager 530 determines that a containertemplate 525 that matches all parameters exists in full (not stubbed) insoftware cache 532, the template 525 as is can be readily used togenerate the desired container 323, control passes to block 1112.

At block 1106, when container manager 530 determines that no existingcontainer template 525 matches the parameters for the desiredstorage/test operation, and further determines that all parameters canbe matched by other contents of software cache 532 that are presenttherein in full (not stubbed) and can therefore be readily used togenerate the desired container 323, control passes to block 1112.

At block 1108, having determined that necessary content is not readilyavailable in software cache 532 for generating a container 323,container manager 530 determines that a restore operation is required.Accordingly, container manager 530 initiates a restore operation ofarchive copies available from secondary storage (e.g., 108) to be putback into software cache 532 in full. Container manager 530illustratively manages the restore operation, identifying the neededarchive copies, e.g., 531, 535, and instructing the local data agent 542and media agent 544 to perform the restore. After the restore operationcompletes, the desired content is available in full in the softwarecache 532 to be used in creating a container 323 at block 1112. In somealternative embodiments, container manager 530 notifies storage manager340 of the need to restore content from secondary storage into softwarecache 532 and storage manager 340 takes control to manage the restoreoperation.

At block 1110, container manager 530 updates cache catalog 534 toreflect the content changes to software cache 532 after the restoreoperation and also reports the update(s) to catalog service 538 forreporting in turn to index server 350. In some alternative embodiments,the updates to cache catalog 534 are implemented indirectly, via catalogservice 538, rather than by container manager 530. In other embodiments,container manager 530 reports catalog changes to index server 350.

At block 1112, container manager 530 generates a container 323 thatmatches the parameters for the desired operation using content obtainedfrom software cache 532. For example, an existing container template525, and/or DBMS software 521, target OS 523, and storage managementsoftware 527. Creating a software container such as container 323 from atemplate such as template 525 is well known in the art. Likewise,creating a software container 323 using a plurality of software elementssuch as DBMS software 521, target OS (lightervisor) 323, and storagemanagement software 527 also is well known in the art.

FIG. 12 depicts some salient operations of block 810 in method 600.Block 810 is generally directed at connecting DBMS software 521executing in container 323 to a proper data source for performingdatabase management operations in service of the desired storage/testoperation.

At block 1202, which is a decision point, container manager 530determines whether the desired database data source is available from asnapshot (e.g., 414). If yes, control passes to block 1206, otherwisecontrol passes to block 1204. In some embodiments, the present analysisis performed by storage manager 340.

At block 1204, since the database data source is not available from asnapshot 414 and is available from a secondary copy 116 (in secondarycopy format) instead, the data source location is treated as apseudo-mount device, meaning that data to be used by DBMS software 521is identified and restored only as needed from the secondary copy 116,data is read by DBMS software 521 on demand from secondary storage, butthe rest of the data source (secondary copy 116) remains stubbed in itssecondary copy format. A pseudo-disk driver is used for these purposes.The result is that DBMS software 521 executing in container 323 nowgains access to the on-demand restored data as its database data source.An example of this pseudo-disk driver and illustrative uses may be foundin U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2016/0041880 A1, entitled “Efficient ApplicationRecovery In An Information Management System Based OnPseudo-Storage-Device Driver,” filed on Aug. 6, 2014, and in U.S. Pat.Pub. No. 2016/0154709 A1, entitled “Point-In-Time Backups Of AProduction Application Made Accessible Over Fibre Channel And/Or iSCSIAs Data Sources To A Remote Application By Representing The Backups AsPseudo-Disks Operating Apart From The Production Application And ItsHost”, filed on Feb. 3, 2016, both of which are hereby incorporated byreference herein.

In alternative embodiments, it is possible to fully restore (all datain) the secondary copy 116 (e.g., alternate database data source 116-2)to a storage volume (not shown) configured in storage array 104. Thisscenario is necessary when the desired storage operation is to restorethe secondary copy 116 (e.g., 116-2) so that a point-in-time databasecopy can be harnessed into service as primary data for a databasemanagement application 110 on a database server 302. This scenario alsomight be necessary when a pseudo-disk solution is not available.However, a full restore is generally a much longer operation thanon-demand restores using the pseudo-disk, and is thus undesirable fortest purposes.

At block 1206, since the desired database data source is available froma snapshot such as DB snapshot 414, the snapshot is clonedillustratively into DB clone 415—if clone 415 does not already exist.The operation is initiated by container manager 530 in communicationwith media agent 144 on secondary storage computing device 106 (see,e.g., FIG. 4), which can communicate with storage array 104 and instructit to execute the cloning procedure. In some alternative embodiments,container manager 530 notifies storage manager 340 of the need toexecute the cloning procedure, and storage manager 340 takes control andinstructs media agent 144 accordingly to instruct storage array 104 tomake clone 415.

At block 1208, the operating system (not shown) of proxy server 322presents the clone (e.g., 415) to container 323 as a mountable storagedevice with an associated mountpoint. This operation is well known inthe art.

At block 1210, the target OS (lightervisor) 523 operating in container323 mounts the mountable device to container 323. This operation also iswell known in the art. The result is that DBMS software 521 executing incontainer 323 now gains access to DB clone 415 as its database datasource.

In regard to the figures described herein, other embodiments arepossible within the scope of the present invention, such that theabove-recited components, steps, blocks, operations, messages, requests,queries, and/or instructions are differently arranged, sequenced,sub-divided, organized, and/or combined. In some embodiments, adifferent component may initiate or execute a given operation. Forexample, in some embodiments, storage manager 340 may instruct containermanager 530 to create one or more software container 323 suitable for aparticular storage operation and/or test operation, whereas in otherembodiments, storage manager 340 provides only operation parameters andcontainer manager 530 determines which containers 323 to create and whatelements each container should properly contain in order to perform theoperations indicated by storage manager 340.

Example Embodiments

Some example enumerated embodiments of the present invention are recitedin this section.

According to an illustrative embodiment of the present invention amethod associated with a data storage management system may comprise: ona first client computing device, executing a software-discovery moduleto identify a home directory for a first version of a databasemanagement software that executes on the first client computing device,wherein container-related contents for the first version of the databasemanagement software, including one or more of (i) executable files, (ii)configuration files, and (iii) library files, are discovered in the homedirectory by the software-discovery module; and determining whether asoftware-cache configured on a proxy server that is a component of thedata storage management system comprises files that match thecontainer-related contents of the home directory for the first versionof the database management software discovered by the software-discoverymodule on the first client computing device. The above-recited methodfurther comprising: when one or more files matching thecontainer-related contents discovered by the software-discovery moduleon the first client computing device are lacking from the software-cacheon the proxy server, initiating, by the proxy server, a backup operationof the home directory for the first version of the database managementsoftware. The above-recited method wherein the backup operation createsa copy of the container-related contents of the home directory andstores the copy to the software-cache on the proxy server, therebypopulating the software-cache with the container-related contents forthe first version of the database management software. The above-recitedmethod further comprising: creating, by the proxy server, asoftware-container comprising (a) the container-related contents for thefirst version of the database management software obtained from thesoftware-cache, (b) a data agent associated with the first version ofthe database management software, and (c) a media agent for accessingdatabase-data. The above-recited method further comprising: executingthe software-container by the proxy server, wherein the first version ofthe database management software executes therein, and wherein, based oninstructions received by the data agent and the media agent executing inthe software-container, from a storage manager that manages the datastorage management system, a storage operation is performed for a sourceof database-data. The above-recited method wherein the storage operationis based on using the container-related contents of the first version ofthe database management software obtained from the software-cache on theproxy server while the first client computing device remains uninvolvedin the storage operation.

According to another illustrative embodiment, a method associated with adata storage management system comprises: on a first client computingdevice, executing a software-discovery module to identify a homedirectory for a first version of a database management software thatexecutes on the first client computing device, wherein container-relatedcontents for the first version of the database management software,including one or more of (i) executable files, (ii) configuration files,and (iii) library files, are discovered in the home directory by thesoftware-discovery module; determining whether a software-cacheconfigured on a proxy server that is a component of the data storagemanagement system comprises files that match the container-relatedcontents of the home directory for the first version of the databasemanagement software discovered by the software-discovery module on thefirst client computing device; when one or more files matching thecontainer-related contents discovered by the software-discovery moduleon the first client computing device are lacking from the software-cacheon the proxy server, initiating, by the proxy server, a backup operationof the home directory for the first version of the database managementsoftware, wherein the backup operation creates a copy of thecontainer-related contents of the home directory and stores the copy tothe software-cache on the proxy server, thereby populating thesoftware-cache with the container-related contents for the first versionof the database management software; creating, by the proxy server, asoftware-container comprising (a) the container-related contents for thefirst version of the database management software obtained from thesoftware-cache, (b) a data agent associated with the first version ofthe database management software, and (c) a media agent for accessingdatabase-data; executing the software-container by the proxy server,wherein the first version of the database management software executestherein, and wherein, based on instructions received by the data agentand the media agent executing in the software-container, from a storagemanager that manages the data storage management system, a storageoperation is performed for a source of database-data; and wherein thestorage operation is based on using the container-related contents ofthe first version of the database management software obtained from thesoftware-cache on the proxy server while the first client computingdevice remains uninvolved in the storage operation.

The above-recited method may further comprise: updating a catalog whichis associated with the software-cache, on the proxy server, to indicatewhen the container-related contents of the first version of the databasemanagement software were used to create the container. The above-recitedmethod wherein after populating the software-cache with thecontainer-related contents for the first version of the databasemanagement software, updating a catalog which is associated with thesoftware-cache, on the proxy server, to indicate when thecontainer-related contents of the first version of the databasemanagement software were added to the software-cache. The above-recitedmethod may further comprise: determining, by the proxy server, whetherthe amount of storage space occupied by the software-cache exceeds athreshold; when the threshold has been exceeded, applying one or morearchiving rules that govern the software-cache to identify a set ofcontents stored in the software-cache; and archiving the identified setof contents stored in the software-cache to one or more secondarystorage devices in communication with the proxy server, thereby causingthe amount of storage space occupied by the software-cache to fall belowthe threshold. The above-recited method may further comprise:determining, by the proxy server, whether the amount of storage spaceoccupied by the software-cache passes a threshold; when the thresholdhas been passed, applying one or more archiving rules that govern thesoftware-cache to identify a set of contents stored in thesoftware-cache, wherein the one or more archiving rules favor archivinglesser-used contents of the software-cache as compared to other contentsof the software-cache; and archiving the identified set of contents fromthe software-cache into respective secondary copies stored to one ormore secondary storage devices in communication with the proxy server,thereby satisfying the threshold, wherein a stub pointing to therespective secondary copy replaces the archived contents in thesoftware-cache.

The above-recited method wherein lesser-used contents have olderlast-used timestamps than other contents of the software-cache. Theabove-recited method wherein lesser-used contents were used lessfrequently than other contents of the software-cache. The above-recitedmethod may further comprise: determining, by the proxy server, whetherthe amount of storage space occupied by the software-cache passes athreshold; when the threshold has been passed, identifying a set ofcontents stored in the software-cache, based on one or more of: whenlast-used in a software-container, how often used in software containersoperating on the proxy server, a version number of the contents, and anage of a version of the contents; and archiving the identified set ofcontents from the software-cache into respective secondary copies storedto one or more secondary storage devices in communication with the proxyserver, thereby satisfying the threshold, wherein a stub pointing to therespective secondary copy replaces the archived contents in thesoftware-cache. The above-recited method wherein the determining whetherthe software-cache configured comprises files that match the discoveredcontainer-related contents of the home directory for the first versionof the database management software is based on analyzing a catalog onthe proxy server that comprises an index of the contents of thesoftware-cache. The above-recited method wherein the executing of thesoftware-container comprises the data agent registering as a client withthe storage manager, thereby enabling the storage operation to proceed.The above-recited method wherein the storage operation is a backup thatgenerates a secondary copy of the source of database-data associatedwith the database management software, wherein the secondary copy isstored by the media agent to a secondary storage device in communicationwith the proxy server.

The above-recited method wherein the storage operation is a restore thatuses the source of database-data, which is a secondary copy stored in asecondary storage device in communication with the proxy server, togenerate database-data in a format and location that are accessible asprimary data to the first version of the database management softwareexecuting in the software-container on the proxy server. Theabove-recited method wherein the source of database-data is a clone of asnapshot of primary data residing on a storage device, wherein a logicalvolume configured on the storage device comprises the clone, and whereinthe clone is accessible as primary data to the first version of thedatabase management software that executes in the software-container onthe proxy server, while the first client computing device lacks accessto the clone. The above-recited method may further comprise: creating,by the storage manager, a list of client computing devices operating inthe data storage management system that are designated ascontainer-eligible; and wherein the first client computing device is onthe list of container-eligible client computing devices. Theabove-recited method may further comprise: creating, by the storagemanager, a list of container-eligible applications executing on one ormore client computing devices in the data storage management system; andwherein the database management software that executes on the firstclient computing device is one of the container-eligible applications onthe list.

According to another illustrative embodiment, a computer-readablemedium, excluding transitory propagating signals, stores instructionsthat, when executed by at least one computing device designated a proxyserver in a data storage management system, cause the proxy server toperform operations comprising: determining whether a software-cacheconfigured on the proxy server comprises files that matchcontainer-related contents of a home directory for a first version of adatabase management software discovered by a software-discovery moduleon a first client computing device in communication with the proxyserver; when one or more files matching the container-related contentsfor the first version of the database management software discovered onthe first client computing device are lacking from the software-cache onthe proxy server, initiating, by the proxy server, a backup operation ofthe home directory for the first version of the database managementsoftware, wherein the backup operation creates a copy of thecontainer-related contents of the home directory and stores the copy tothe software-cache on the proxy server, thereby populating thesoftware-cache with the container-related contents for the first versionof the database management software; creating, by the proxy server, asoftware-container comprising (a) the container-related contents for thefirst version of the database management software obtained from thesoftware-cache, (b) a data agent associated with the first version ofthe database management software, and (c) a media agent for accessingdatabase-data; executing the software-container by the proxy server,wherein the first version of the database management software executestherein, and wherein, based on instructions received by the data agentand the media agent executing in the software-container from a storagemanager that manages the data storage management system, a storageoperation is performed for a source of database-data; and wherein thestorage operation is based on using the container-related contents ofthe first version of the database management software obtained from thesoftware-cache on the proxy server while the first client computingdevice remains uninvolved in the storage operation.

The above-recited computer-readable medium wherein the container-relatedcontents for the first version of the database management software,comprise one or more of (i) executable files of the database managementsoftware, (ii) configuration files for the database management software,and (iii) library files for the database management software. Theabove-recited computer-readable medium wherein the proxy serveroperations further comprise: updating a catalog which is associated withthe software-cache, on the proxy server, to indicate when thecontainer-related contents of the first version of the databasemanagement software were used to create the container. The above-recitedcomputer-readable medium wherein after populating the software-cachewith the container-related contents for the first version of thedatabase management software, updating a catalog which is associatedwith the software-cache, on the proxy server, to indicate when thecontainer-related contents of the first version of the databasemanagement software were added to the software-cache. The above-recitedcomputer-readable medium wherein the proxy server operations furthercomprise: determining, by the proxy server, whether the amount ofstorage space occupied by the software-cache exceeds a threshold; whenthe threshold has been exceeded, applying one or more archiving rulesthat govern the software-cache to identify a set of contents stored inthe software-cache; and archiving the identified set of contents storedin the software-cache to one or more secondary storage devices incommunication with the proxy server, thereby causing the amount ofstorage space occupied by the software-cache to fall below thethreshold. The above-recited computer-readable medium wherein the proxyserver operations further comprise: determining, by the proxy server,whether the amount of storage space occupied by the software-cachepasses a threshold; when the threshold has been passed, applying one ormore archiving rules that govern the software-cache to identify a set ofcontents stored in the software-cache, wherein the one or more archivingrules favor archiving lesser-used contents of the software-cache ascompared to other contents of the software-cache; and archiving theidentified set of contents from the software-cache into respectivesecondary copies stored to one or more secondary storage devices incommunication with the proxy server, thereby satisfying the threshold,wherein a stub pointing to the respective secondary copy replaces thearchived contents in the software-cache.

The above-recited computer-readable medium wherein lesser-used contentshave older last-used timestamps than other contents of thesoftware-cache. The above-recited computer-readable medium whereinlesser-used contents were used less frequently than other contents ofthe software-cache. The above-recited computer-readable medium whereinthe proxy server operations further comprise: determining, by the proxyserver, whether the amount of storage space occupied by thesoftware-cache passes a threshold; when the threshold has been passed,identifying a set of contents stored in the software-cache, based on oneor more of: when last-used in a software-container, how often used insoftware containers operating on the proxy server, a version number ofthe contents, and an age of a version of the contents; and archiving theidentified set of contents from the software-cache into respectivesecondary copies stored to one or more secondary storage devices incommunication with the proxy server, thereby satisfying the threshold,wherein a stub pointing to the respective secondary copy replaces thearchived contents in the software-cache. The above-recitedcomputer-readable medium wherein the determining whether thesoftware-cache configured comprises files that match the discoveredcontainer-related contents of the home directory for the first versionof the database management software is based on analyzing a catalog onthe proxy server that comprises an index of the contents of thesoftware-cache. The above-recited computer-readable medium wherein theexecuting of the software-container comprises the data agent registeringas a client with the storage manager, thereby enabling the storageoperation to proceed. The above-recited computer-readable medium whereinthe storage operation is a backup that generates a secondary copy of thesource of database-data associated with the database managementsoftware, wherein the secondary copy is stored by the media agent to asecondary storage device in communication with the proxy server.

The above-recited computer-readable medium wherein the storage operationis a restore that uses the source of database-data, which is a secondarycopy stored in a secondary storage device in communication with theproxy server, to generate database-data in a format and location thatare accessible as primary data to the first version of the databasemanagement software executing in the software-container on the proxyserver. The above-recited computer-readable medium wherein the source ofdatabase-data is a clone of a snapshot of primary data residing on astorage device, wherein a logical volume configured on the storagedevice comprises the clone, and wherein the clone is accessible asprimary data to the first version of the database management softwarethat executes in the software-container on the proxy server, while thefirst client computing device lacks access to the clone. Theabove-recited computer-readable medium wherein the proxy serveroperations further comprise: creating, by the storage manager, a list ofclient computing devices operating in the data storage management systemthat are designated as container-eligible; and wherein the first clientcomputing device is on the list of container-eligible client computingdevices. The above-recited computer-readable medium wherein the proxyserver operations further comprise: creating, by the storage manager, alist of container-eligible applications executing on one or more clientcomputing devices in the data storage management system; and wherein thedatabase management software that executes on the first client computingdevice is one of the container-eligible applications on the list.

According to another illustrative embodiment, a method associated with adata storage management system comprises: on a first client computingdevice, executing a software-discovery module to identify a homedirectory for a first version of a database management software thatexecutes on the first client computing device, wherein container-relatedcontents for the first version of the database management software,including one or more of (i) executable files, (ii) configuration files,and (iii) library files, are discovered in the home directory by thesoftware-discovery module; determining whether a software-cacheconfigured on a proxy server that is a component of the data storagemanagement system comprises a template comprising files that match thecontainer-related contents of the home directory for the first versionof the database management software discovered by the software-discoverymodule on the first client computing device; when the template isrepresented by a stub in the software-cache, initiating, by the proxyserver, a restore operation of the template from an archive copy thereofstored in a secondary storage device in communication with the proxyserver, thereby populating the software-cache with the template for thesoftware-container; when the template is not found in the software-cacheand further when a stub for the template also is not found in thesoftware-cache, initiating, by the proxy server, a backup operation ofthe home directory for the first version of the database managementsoftware, wherein the backup operation creates a copy of thecontainer-related contents of the home directory and stores the copy tothe software-cache on the proxy server, thereby populating thesoftware-cache with the container-related contents for the first versionof the database management software, and creating the template in thesoftware-cache; creating, by the proxy server, a software-containerbased on the template obtained from the software-cache, thesoftware-container comprising (a) the container-related contents for thefirst version of the database management software obtained from thesoftware-cache, (b) a data agent associated with the first version ofthe database management software, and (c) a media agent for accessingdatabase-data; executing the software-container by the proxy server,wherein the first version of the database management software executestherein, and wherein, based on instructions received by the data agentand the media agent executing in the software-container, from a storagemanager that manages the data storage management system, a storageoperation is performed for a source of database-data; and wherein thestorage operation is based on using the container-related contents ofthe first version of the database management software obtained from thesoftware-cache on the proxy server while the first client computingdevice remains uninvolved in the storage operation.

The above-recited method wherein on creating the firstsoftware-container, a catalog which is associated with thesoftware-cache on the proxy server is updated to indicate when thetemplate in the software-cache was used for creating the firstsoftware-container. The above-recited method wherein the determining isbased on analyzing a catalog which is associated with the software-cacheon the proxy server; and wherein on restoring the template to thesoftware-cache, the catalog is updated to indicate when the template wasadded to the software-cache, and wherein on creating the firstsoftware-container, the catalog is updated to indicate when the templatein the software-cache was used for creating the firstsoftware-container.

According to yet another illustrative embodiment, a method forperforming storage operations in a data storage management system maycomprise: receiving, by a proxy server, parameters for performing afirst storage operation in the data storage management system, whereinthe parameters comprise: a version of database management software, anda first data source for the storage operation; based on the receivedparameters, creating by the proxy server a first software-containercomprising: an instance of the version of database management software,an instance of a data agent associated with the version of databasemanagement software, and an instance of a media agent for accessing atleast one of the first data source and a destination for data to begenerated in the storage operation; activating the firstsoftware-container on the proxy server; registering as a first clientwith a storage manager, by the instance of the data agent executing inthe activated first software-container, wherein the storage managermanages storage operations in the data storage management system;communicatively coupling the first data source with the instance of theversion of database management software executing in the activatedsoftware-container; performing the first storage operation using thefirst data source, wherein the first storage operation is performed atleast in part by the first instance of the version of databasemanagement software, the first instance of the data agent, and the firstinstance of the media agent executing in the activated firstsoftware-container; and on completion of the first storage operation,de-registering as the first client by the data agent and destroying thefirst software-container by the proxy server.

The above-recited method may further comprise: while the firstsoftware-container actively operates on the proxy server: (a) activatinga second software-container on the proxy server, comprising (i) a secondinstance of the version of database management software, (ii) a secondinstance of the data agent, and (iii) a second instance of the mediaagent, (b) registering as a second client with the storage manager, bythe second instance of the data agent executing in the activated secondsoftware-container, (c) communicatively coupling the first data sourcewith the second instance of database management software executing inthe activated second software-container, and (d) performing a secondstorage operation using the first data source, wherein the storageoperation is performed at least in part by the second instance of theversion of database management software, second instance of the dataagent, and the second instance of the media agent executing in theactivated second software-container, wherein the second storageoperation is performed independently of the first storage operationperformed by components executing in the activated firstsoftware-container. The above-recited method may further comprise: whilethe first software-container actively operates on the proxy server: (a)activating a second software-container on the proxy server, comprising(i) a second instance of the version of database management software,(ii) a second instance of the data agent, and (iii) a second instance ofthe media agent, (b) registering as a second client with the storagemanager, by the second instance of the data agent executing in theactivated second software-container, (c) communicatively coupling asecond data source with the second instance of database managementsoftware executing in the activated second software-container, and (d)performing a second storage operation using the second data source,wherein the storage operation is performed at least in part by thesecond instance of the version of database management software, secondinstance of the data agent, and the second instance of the media agentexecuting in the activated second software-container, wherein the secondstorage operation is performed by components executing in the activatedsecond software-container independently of the first storage operationperformed by components executing in the activated firstsoftware-container.

The above-recited method wherein the parameters for performing the firststorage operation are received by the proxy server from the storagemanager. The above-recited method wherein the instance of the data agentand the instance of the media agent are configured in a decoupled modewith an instance of storage management software in the firstsoftware-container until the first software container is activated. Theabove-recited method wherein the instance of the version of databasemanagement software, the instance of the data agent associated with theversion of database management software, and the instance of the mediaagent are obtained from a software-cache configured on the proxy server.The above-recited method wherein the instance of the version of databasemanagement software, the instance of the data agent associated with theversion of database management software, and the instance of the mediaagent are obtained from a software-cache configured on the proxy server;and wherein a catalog associated with the software-cache tracks thecontents of the software-cache and is updated to indicate whensoftware-cache contents are used in a software-container on the proxyserver. The above-recited method wherein the instance of the version ofdatabase management software, the instance of the data agent associatedwith the version of database management software, and the instance ofthe media agent are obtained from a software-cache configured on theproxy server; wherein a catalog associated with the software-cachetracks the contents of the software-cache and is updated to indicatewhen software-cache contents are used in a software-container on theproxy server; and reporting, by the proxy server to an index server incommunication with the proxy server and with the storage manager,updates that are entered into the catalog associated with thesoftware-cache on the proxy server.

The above-recited method may further comprise: determining whether asoftware-cache configured on the proxy server comprises files that matchthe parameters for performing the first storage operation; when thefiles matching the parameters for performing the first storage operationare found in the software-cache on the proxy server, the firstsoftware-container is created from contents obtained from thesoftware-cache. The above-recited method wherein on creating the firstsoftware-container, a catalog which is associated with thesoftware-cache on the proxy server is updated to indicate when contentsof the software-cache were used for creating the firstsoftware-container. The above-recited method may further comprise:determining whether a software-cache configured on the proxy servercomprises files that match the parameters for performing the firststorage operation; when one or more files matching the parameters forperforming the first storage operation are lacking from thesoftware-cache on the proxy server, initiating, by the proxy server, abackup operation of a home directory for the version of databasemanagement software comprising one or more of (i) executable files, (ii)configuration files, and (iii) library files, wherein the backupoperation stores a copy of the respective files to the software-cache onthe proxy server, thereby populating the software-cache withcontainer-related contents for the version of database managementsoftware used in the first storage operation. The above-recited methodwherein on populating the software-cache, a catalog which is associatedwith the software-cache on the proxy server is updated to indicate whencontents were added to the software-cache.

The above-recited method may further comprise: determining whether asoftware-cache configured on the proxy server comprises files that matchthe parameters for performing the first storage operation; when one ormore files matching the parameters for performing the first storageoperation are lacking from the software-cache on the proxy server,initiating, by the proxy server, a restore operation of the one or morematching files from respective secondary copies thereof stored in asecondary storage device in communication with the proxy server, therebypopulating the software-cache with the one or more files matching theparameters for performing the first storage operation. The above-recitedmethod wherein on populating the software-cache, a catalog which isassociated with the software-cache on the proxy server is updated toindicate when contents were added to the software-cache. Theabove-recited method may further comprise: determining whether asoftware-cache configured on the proxy server comprises stubs for filesthat match the parameters for performing the first storage operation;when one or more files matching the parameters for performing the firststorage operation are represented by respective stubs in thesoftware-cache on the proxy server, initiating, by the proxy server, arestore operation of the one or more matching files from respectivearchive copies thereof stored in a secondary storage device incommunication with the proxy server, thereby populating thesoftware-cache with the one or more files matching the parameters forperforming the first storage operation. The above-recited method whereinon populating the software-cache, a catalog which is associated with thesoftware-cache on the proxy server is updated to indicate when contentswere added to the software-cache.

The above-recited method may further comprise: determining whether asoftware-cache configured on the proxy server comprises a template forthe first software-container that matches the parameters for performingthe first storage operation; when the template matching the parametersfor performing the first storage operation is found in thesoftware-cache on the proxy server, the first software-container iscreated from the template obtained from the software-cache. Theabove-recited method wherein on creating the first software-container, acatalog which is associated with the software-cache on the proxy serveris updated to indicate when the template in the software-cache was usedfor creating the first software-container. The above-recited method mayfurther comprise: determining whether a software-cache configured on theproxy server comprises a template for the first software-container thatmatches the parameters for performing the first storage operation; andwhen the template matching the parameters for performing the firststorage operation is represented by a stub in the software-cache on theproxy server, initiating, by the proxy server, a restore operation ofthe template from an archive copy thereof stored in a secondary storagedevice in communication with the proxy server, thereby populating thesoftware-cache with the template for the software-container matching theparameters for performing the first storage operation. The above-recitedwherein the determining is based on analyzing a catalog which isassociated with the software-cache on the proxy server; and wherein onrestoring the template to the software-cache, the catalog is updated toindicate when the template was added to the software-cache, and whereinon creating the first software-container, the catalog is updated toindicate when the template in the software-cache was used for creatingthe first software-container. The above-recited method wherein the firststorage operation is a backup of the first data source from a snapshotof primary data stored on a primary data storage device accessible to aclient computing device to the destination, and wherein the destinationis a secondary copy of the snapshot stored to a secondary storage devicein communication with the proxy server; and wherein the client computingdevice operates independently of and uninvolved with the performing ofthe first storage operation. The above-recited method wherein the firststorage operation is an archiving of the first data source from asnapshot of primary data stored on a primary data storage deviceaccessible to a client computing device to the destination, and whereinthe destination is an archive copy of the snapshot stored to a secondarystorage device in communication with the proxy server; and wherein theclient computing device operates independently of and uninvolved withthe performing of the first storage operation.

The above-recited method wherein the first storage operation is arestore of the first data source from a secondary copy of data stored ina secondary storage device in communication with the proxy server to alogical volume configured on a primary storage device, and wherein therestored data in the logical volume is accessible as primary data to thefirst instance of the version of the database management systemexecuting in the first software container on the proxy server. Theabove-recited method wherein on creating the first software-container, acatalog on the proxy server is updated to indicate when contents of thefirst software-container were used for creating the firstsoftware-container. The above-recited method wherein on completion ofthe first storage operation a catalog on the proxy server is updated toindicate when contents of the first software-container were last used inthe first software-container. The above-recited method wherein aplurality of other storage operations are performed, by components ofother respective software-containers activated on the proxy server,concurrently with the first storage operation without a namespaceconflict therebetween in regard to one or more of: a name of therespective instance of database management software executing in a givensoftware-container, a name of the respective data source for therespective storage operation in a given software-container, and a nameof the respective destination for the respective storage operation in agiven software-container.

In other embodiments, a system or systems may operate according to oneor more of the methods and/or computer-readable media recited in thepreceding paragraphs. In yet other embodiments, a method or methods mayoperate according to one or more of the systems and/or computer-readablemedia recited in the preceding paragraphs. In yet more embodiments, acomputer-readable medium or media, excluding transitory propagatingsignals, may cause one or more computing devices having one or moreprocessors and non-transitory computer-readable memory (e.g., a databaseserver, a proxy server, a storage manager) to operate according to oneor more of the systems and/or methods recited in the precedingparagraphs.

Terminology

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certainfeatures, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is notgenerally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are inany way required for one or more embodiments or that one or moreembodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without userinput or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps areincluded or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout thedescription and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and thelike are to be construed in an inclusive sense, as opposed to anexclusive or exhaustive sense, i.e., in the sense of “including, but notlimited to.” As used herein, the terms “connected,” “coupled,” or anyvariant thereof means any connection or coupling, either direct orindirect, between two or more elements; the coupling or connectionbetween the elements can be physical, logical, or a combination thereof.Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,” and words of similarimport, when used in this application, refer to this application as awhole and not to any particular portions of this application. Where thecontext permits, words using the singular or plural number may alsoinclude the plural or singular number respectively. The word “or” inreference to a list of two or more items, covers all of the followinginterpretations of the word: any one of the items in the list, all ofthe items in the list, and any combination of the items in the list.Likewise the term “and/or” in reference to a list of two or more items,covers all of the following interpretations of the word: any one of theitems in the list, all of the items in the list, and any combination ofthe items in the list.

In some embodiments, certain operations, acts, events, or functions ofany of the algorithms described herein can be performed in a differentsequence, can be added, merged, or left out altogether (e.g., not allare necessary for the practice of the algorithms). In certainembodiments, operations, acts, functions, or events can be performedconcurrently, e.g., through multi-threaded processing, interruptprocessing, or multiple processors or processor cores or on otherparallel architectures, rather than sequentially.

Systems and modules described herein may comprise software, firmware,hardware, or any combination(s) of software, firmware, or hardwaresuitable for the purposes described. Software and other modules mayreside and execute on servers, workstations, personal computers,computerized tablets, PDAs, and other computing devices suitable for thepurposes described herein. Software and other modules may be accessiblevia local computer memory, via a network, via a browser, or via othermeans suitable for the purposes described herein. Data structuresdescribed herein may comprise computer files, variables, programmingarrays, programming structures, or any electronic information storageschemes or methods, or any combinations thereof, suitable for thepurposes described herein. User interface elements described herein maycomprise elements from graphical user interfaces, interactive voiceresponse, command line interfaces, and other suitable interfaces.

Further, processing of the various components of the illustrated systemscan be distributed across multiple machines, networks, and othercomputing resources. Two or more components of a system can be combinedinto fewer components. Various components of the illustrated systems canbe implemented in one or more virtual machines, rather than in dedicatedcomputer hardware systems and/or computing devices. Likewise, the datarepositories shown can represent physical and/or logical data storage,including, e.g., storage area networks or other distributed storagesystems. Moreover, in some embodiments the connections between thecomponents shown represent possible paths of data flow, rather thanactual connections between hardware. While some examples of possibleconnections are shown, any of the subset of the components shown cancommunicate with any other subset of components in variousimplementations.

Embodiments are also described above with reference to flow chartillustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) andcomputer program products. Each block of the flow chart illustrationsand/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flow chartillustrations and/or block diagrams, may be implemented by computerprogram instructions. Such instructions may be provided to a processorof a general purpose computer, special purpose computer,specially-equipped computer (e.g., comprising a high-performancedatabase server, a graphics subsystem, etc.) or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions,which execute via the processor(s) of the computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus, create means for implementing the actsspecified in the flow chart and/or block diagram block or blocks. Thesecomputer program instructions may also be stored in a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to operate in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the acts specified in the flow chart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also beloaded to a computing device or other programmable data processingapparatus to cause operations to be performed on the computing device orother programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented processsuch that the instructions which execute on the computing device orother programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the actsspecified in the flow chart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

Any patents and applications and other references noted above, includingany that may be listed in accompanying filing papers, are incorporatedherein by reference. Aspects of the invention can be modified, ifnecessary, to employ the systems, functions, and concepts of the variousreferences described above to provide yet further implementations of theinvention. These and other changes can be made to the invention in lightof the above Detailed Description. While the above description describescertain examples of the invention, and describes the best modecontemplated, no matter how detailed the above appears in text, theinvention can be practiced in many ways. Details of the system may varyconsiderably in its specific implementation, while still beingencompassed by the invention disclosed herein. As noted above,particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspectsof the invention should not be taken to imply that the terminology isbeing redefined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics,features, or aspects of the invention with which that terminology isassociated. In general, the terms used in the following claims shouldnot be construed to limit the invention to the specific examplesdisclosed in the specification, unless the above Detailed Descriptionsection explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope ofthe invention encompasses not only the disclosed examples, but also allequivalent ways of practicing or implementing the invention under theclaims.

To reduce the number of claims, certain aspects of the invention arepresented below in certain claim forms, but the applicant contemplatesother aspects of the invention in any number of claim forms. Forexample, while only one aspect of the invention is recited as ameans-plus-function claim under 35 U.S.C sec. 112(f) (AIA), otheraspects may likewise be embodied as a means-plus-function claim, or inother forms, such as being embodied in a computer-readable medium. Anyclaims intended to be treated under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) will begin withthe words “means for,” but use of the term “for” in any other context isnot intended to invoke treatment under 35 U.S.C. § 112(f). Accordingly,the applicant reserves the right to pursue additional claims afterfiling this application, in either this or in a continuing application.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method associated with a data storagemanagement system, the method comprising: on a first client computingdevice, identifying by executing a software-discovery module executingthereon, a home directory for a first version of a database managementsoftware that executes on the first client computing device, wherein thesoftware-discovery module discovers in the home directorycontainer-related contents for the first version of the databasemanagement software, wherein the contents include one or more of (i)executable files, (ii) configuration files, and (iii) library files;determining whether a software-cache configured on a proxy servercomprises files that match the container-related contents for the firstversion of the database management software discovered on the firstclient computing device; when one or more files matching thecontainer-related contents for the first version of the databasemanagement software discovered on the first client computing device arelacking from the software-cache on the proxy server, initiating, by theproxy server, a backup operation of the home directory for the firstversion of the database management software, wherein the backupoperation creates a copy of the container-related contents of the homedirectory and stores the copy to the software-cache on the proxy server,thereby populating the software-cache with the container-relatedcontents for the first version of the database management software;creating, by the proxy server, a software-container comprising (a)container-related contents for the first version of the databasemanagement software obtained from the software-cache, (b) a data agentassociated with the first version of the database management software,and (c) a media agent for accessing database-data on a storage device;executing the software-container by the proxy server, wherein the firstversion of the database management software executes therein, andwherein a storage operation is performed for a source of database-data,based on instructions from a storage manager that manages the datastorage management system, received by the data agent and the mediaagent executing in the software-container; and wherein the storageoperation is based on using the container-related contents of the firstversion of the database management software obtained from thesoftware-cache on the proxy server.
 2. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: updating a catalog which is associated with thesoftware-cache, on the proxy server, to indicate when thecontainer-related contents of the first version of the databasemanagement software were used to create the software-container.
 3. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising: determining, by the proxy server,whether the amount of storage space occupied by the software-cacheexceeds a threshold; when the threshold has been exceeded, applying oneor more archiving rules to identify for archiving a set of contentsstored in the software-cache; and archiving the identified set ofcontents stored in the software-cache to one or more secondary storagedevices in communication with the proxy server, thereby causing theamount of storage space occupied by the software-cache to fall below thethreshold.
 4. The method of claim 1 further comprising: determining, bythe proxy server, whether the amount of storage space occupied by thesoftware-cache passes a threshold; when the threshold has been passed,applying one or more archiving rules to identify for archiving a set ofcontents stored in the software-cache, wherein the one or more archivingrules favor archiving lesser-used contents of the software-cache ascompared to other contents of the software-cache; and archiving theidentified set of contents from the software-cache into respectivesecondary copies stored to one or more secondary storage devices incommunication with the proxy server, thereby satisfying the threshold,wherein a stub pointing to the respective secondary copy replaces thearchived contents in the software-cache.
 5. The method of claim 1further comprising: determining, by the proxy server, whether the amountof storage space occupied by the software-cache passes a threshold; whenthe threshold has been passed, identifying a set of contents stored inthe software-cache, based on one or more of: when last-used in asoftware-container, how often used in software containers operating onthe proxy server, a version number of the contents, and an age of aversion of the contents; and archiving the identified set of contentsfrom the software-cache into respective secondary copies stored to oneor more secondary storage devices in communication with the proxyserver, thereby satisfying the threshold, wherein a stub pointing to therespective secondary copy replaces the archived contents in thesoftware-cache.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining whetherthe software-cache configured on the proxy server comprises files thatmatch the discovered container-related contents of the home directoryfor the first version of the database management software is based onanalyzing a catalog on the proxy server that comprises an index of thecontents of the software-cache.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein theexecuting of the software-container comprises the data agent registeringas a client with the storage manager, thereby enabling the storageoperation to proceed.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein the storageoperation is a backup that generates a secondary copy of the source ofdatabase-data associated with the database management software, andwherein the secondary copy is stored by the media agent to a secondarystorage device in communication with the proxy server.
 9. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the storage operation restores the source ofdatabase-data, which is a secondary copy stored in a secondary storagedevice in communication with the proxy server, to a format and locationthat are accessible as primary data to the first version of the databasemanagement software executing in the software-container on the proxyserver.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein the source of database-data isa clone of a snapshot of primary data residing within a logical volumeconfigured on a storage device, and wherein the clone is accessible asprimary data to the first version of the database management softwarethat executes in the software-container on the proxy server, while thefirst client computing device lacks access to the clone.
 11. A methodassociated with a data storage management system, the method comprising:on a first client computing device, executing a software-discoverymodule to identify a home directory for a first version of a databasemanagement software that executes on the first client computing device,wherein container-related contents for the first version of the databasemanagement software, including one or more of (i) executable files, (ii)configuration files, and (iii) library files, are discovered in the homedirectory by the software-discovery module; determining whether asoftware-cache configured on a proxy server that is a component of thedata storage management system comprises a template comprising filesthat match the container-related contents of the home directory for thefirst version of the database management software discovered by thesoftware-discovery module on the first client computing device; when thetemplate is represented by a stub in the software-cache, initiating, bythe proxy server, a restore operation of the template from an archivecopy thereof stored in a secondary storage device in communication withthe proxy server, thereby populating the software-cache with thetemplate for the software-container; when the template is not found inthe software-cache and further when a stub for the template also is notfound in the software-cache, initiating, by the proxy server, a backupoperation of the home directory for the first version of the databasemanagement software, wherein the backup operation creates a copy of thecontainer-related contents of the home directory and stores the copy tothe software-cache on the proxy server, thereby populating thesoftware-cache with the container-related contents for the first versionof the database management software, and creating the template in thesoftware-cache; creating, by the proxy server, a software-containerbased on the template obtained from the software-cache, thesoftware-container comprising (a) the container-related contents for thefirst version of the database management software obtained from thesoftware-cache, (b) a data agent associated with the first version ofthe database management software, and (c) a media agent for accessingdatabase-data; executing the software-container by the proxy server,wherein the first version of the database management software executestherein, and wherein, based on instructions received by the data agentand the media agent executing in the software-container, from a storagemanager that manages the data storage management system, a storageoperation is performed for a source of database-data; and wherein thestorage operation is based on using the container-related contents ofthe first version of the database management software obtained from thesoftware-cache on the proxy server while the first client computingdevice remains uninvolved in the storage operation.
 12. The method ofclaim 11 wherein on creating the first software-container, a catalogwhich is associated with the software-cache on the proxy server isupdated to indicate when the template in the software-cache was used forcreating the first software-container.
 13. The method of claim 11wherein the determining is based on analyzing a catalog which isassociated with the software-cache on the proxy server; and wherein onrestoring the template to the software-cache, the catalog is updated toindicate when the template was added to the software-cache, and whereinon creating the first software-container, the catalog is updated toindicate when the template in the software-cache was used for creatingthe first software-container.
 14. A method for performing storageoperations in a data storage management system, the method comprising:receiving, by a proxy server, parameters for performing a first storageoperation in the data storage management system, wherein the parameterscomprise: a version of database management software, and a first datasource for the storage operation; based on the received parameters,creating by the proxy server a first software-container comprising: aninstance of the version of database management software, an instance ofa data agent associated with the version of database managementsoftware, and an instance of a media agent for accessing at least one ofthe first data source and a destination for data to be generated in thestorage operation; activating the first software-container on the proxyserver; registering as a first client with a storage manager, by theinstance of the data agent executing in the activated firstsoftware-container, wherein the storage manager manages storageoperations in the data storage management system; communicativelycoupling the first data source with the instance of the version ofdatabase management software executing in the activatedsoftware-container; performing the first storage operation using thefirst data source, wherein the first storage operation is performed atleast in part by the first instance of the version of databasemanagement software, the first instance of the data agent, and the firstinstance of the media agent executing in the activated firstsoftware-container; and on completion of the first storage operation,de-registering as the first client by the data agent and destroying thefirst software-container by the proxy server.
 15. The method of claim 14further comprising: while the first software-container actively operateson the proxy server: (a) activating a second software-container on theproxy server, comprising (i) a second instance of the version ofdatabase management software, (ii) a second instance of the data agent,and (iii) a second instance of the media agent, (b) registering as asecond client with the storage manager, by the second instance of thedata agent executing in the activated second software-container, (c)communicatively coupling a second data source with the second instanceof database management software executing in the activated secondsoftware-container, and (d) performing a second storage operation usingthe second data source, wherein the storage operation is performed atleast in part by the second instance of the version of databasemanagement software, second instance of the data agent, and the secondinstance of the media agent executing in the activated secondsoftware-container, wherein the second storage operation is performed bycomponents executing in the activated second software-containerindependently of the first storage operation performed by componentsexecuting in the activated first software-container.
 16. The method ofclaim 14 wherein the instance of the data agent and the instance of themedia agent are configured in a decoupled mode with an instance ofstorage management software in the first software-container until thefirst software container is activated.
 17. The method of claim 14wherein the instance of the version of database management software, theinstance of the data agent associated with the version of databasemanagement software, and the instance of the media agent are obtainedfrom a software-cache configured on the proxy server.
 18. The method ofclaim 17 wherein the instance of the version of database managementsoftware, the instance of the data agent associated with the version ofdatabase management software, and the instance of the media agent areobtained from a software-cache configured on the proxy server; andwherein a catalog associated with the software-cache tracks the contentsof the software-cache and is updated to indicate when software-cachecontents are used in a software-container on the proxy server.
 19. Themethod of claim 14 further comprising: determining whether asoftware-cache configured on the proxy server comprises a template forthe first software-container that matches the parameters for performingthe first storage operation; when the template matching the parametersfor performing the first storage operation is found in thesoftware-cache on the proxy server, the first software-container iscreated from the template obtained from the software-cache.
 20. Themethod of claim 19 wherein on creating the first software-container, acatalog which is associated with the software-cache on the proxy serveris updated to indicate when the template in the software-cache was usedfor creating the first software-container.